


All the way home

by CALLEN37



Category: NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles
Genre: Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Organized Crime
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-21
Updated: 2015-08-09
Packaged: 2018-01-02 07:00:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 37
Words: 67,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1053864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CALLEN37/pseuds/CALLEN37
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Deeks disappears in dubious circumstances and reappears nearly 3 years later his name on an NCIS Most Wanted list. Will he be able to explain what happened and where he's been...or is he really on the wrong side of the law this time. W I P.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

3 years ago:

He stumbled in the dark, he had no idea where he was and his head hurt.

"GENTRY!" A man ran over and helped pull him away from what he noticed was a dangerous drop.

Max Gentry rubbed the back of his head and looked at the body of the man floating in the water.

"Who's he?" Max asked looking at the gun in his hand.

"Some navy cop. You shot him." The man looked at him, "You ok Max?"

"I…I don't know."

Max followed the man and climbed into his car.

"What happened?" Max asked as he leaned his head back on the headrest gently rubbing the sore spot on the back of his head.

"Oh my God, it was awesome, the deal was going down, and we had the Mitchelli hoods on the run, and some stupid navy cops tried to stop us, Darius Mitchelli is a navy guy. He'd been selling our stuff to the navy and their cops got pissed."

"So what was awesome?" Gentry growled.

"You…you were, some guy hits you on the back of the head, a whole load of navy cops show up and you beat the shit out of this one guy and dumped him in the drink!" the man was practically bouncing up and down with excitement right now.

Gentry groaned and rub his head again.

"I need a drink." He groaned.

"You'll have to have it on the plane."

"Plane? What plane?" Gentry turned and pulled his gun on the man driving.

"Bosses orders the LAPD cops are looking for you, the navy cops too, it's too hot for you here, gonna send you to stay with the bosses sister in Washington D.C." the man said.

They pulled up at LAX, "The boss says you have about 5 hours before they track you down and the navy cops said something about killing you if they got there hands on you."

"I don't….I don't remember?" Max said worried.

"It's ok," The man said handing him the ticket, "Sara's meeting you at the airport, she knows what you look like and she'll be there to help you."

"Sara?" Gentry asked confused.

"Sure, Sara Giamatti, the bosses sister, but remember, even though you're going to be the other side of the country, Marc Giamatti is your boss and will remain so, this doesn't get you out of your debt to the family." The man said.

Gentry nodded and took the ticket. "OK."

He took a few steps away, "Hey Max?" the man said. "Gun?" he prompted.

Gentry took his gun out and tossed it at the man, "Keep it safe, I'll be back for it."

Gentry walked toward the gate and his new life.

* * *

Kensi looked at the footage, that Eric was pulling up on the big screen in ops and was shaking her head, "There has to be some mistake?"

Hetty looked at her, "I talked to Lieutenant Bates, there is no mistake, If Eric can get the footage, Mr. Deeks attacked a NCIS agent and threw him off the docks into the water, and he's in the ICU right now and may die." She said sadly.

"But why?" Callen asked, "I mean I know he has a rocky relationship with the LAPD, but Deeks wouldn't do this." He defended his friend.

"Look though." Sam said turning and watching the footage again, "Maybe he was drinking; he staggers out from behind those pallets and then goes for the officer."

"Sam!" Kensi snapped, hurt that he'd blame her partner. "Deeks doesn't drink. I mean I know he says he does, but have you ever seen him drink…really?" she asked.

"No, I haven't."

"It's because he doesn't he was too afraid of turning into his father."

"Who's that?" Callen asked looking at the man that Deeks shot as he stumbled again.

"That is our case, and why as of right now Mr. Deeks is on our most wanted list. That is Special Agent, Dan Dickson. He's one of us, NCIS out of San Diego. He was chasing a Darius Mitchelli who was a petty officer on the US Georgetown and he was dealing drugs to the crew."

"And Deeks just shot him?" Callen asked.

"Deeks shot him in the head? Special Agent or not, Deeks should have aimed for a non fatal area." Sam snorted.

Kensi's hands flew up to her face, "No…!" she watched stunned as a man came over to Deeks and helped him up, walking past the special agent Deeks kicked his as he held his head and climbed into the dark colored saloon car.

"Where did he take him?" Callen asked turning to Eric.

"LAX about five hours ago; Mr. Deeks has dropped off the grid." Eric told them sadly.

* * *

Max got off the plane and walked towards the exit, the lack of a bag or anything else worrying him.

He got to the main terminal when he saw a pretty dark haired Italian girl "Max!" she called as he walked out. She ran up and hugged him.

"Hello Sara." Max said.

"Jake said that Marc had asked you to pick me up?" Max said.

Sara's face fell, "Max? You don't remember me?" she looked hurt.

"Should I?" Max said.

Sara produced a picture of him and her last Christmas, "Marc's Christmas party, we, we had a thing."

"A thing." That struck something of a chord within him.

She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him deeply. He groaned into the kiss. "Sara." He said remembering the feel of the woman in his arms.

"You do remember." Sara smiled, "Max…lets go home." She took him by the hand and they walked arm in arm out of the airport.

* * *

It had been three years, the team had searched the length and breath of the country and there had been no sign of Deeks, Monty had gone to live with Sam and his family, Kensi had gotten a new partner, who after a rocky start had finally fitted in, Eddie Regan had transferred from San Diego and was a welcome addition to the team. Hetty had done away with the LAPD liaison position after Deeks but had this time stayed with the team, Callen forestalling every attempt of her's to quit. Callen himself had only in the last month or so begun to let Regan in on the team. Although he still held out hope that one day they would find Deeks and he could explain what had happened. Kensi still had a few shirts of Deeks' and had a box of stuff from his old apartment which he doggedly held onto for him.

The FBI has watched his mothers' house for nearly a year until they were sure he wasn't going to turn up there and Ray, Deeks' childhood friend had been relocated again on the witness protection program and watched for the same length of time.

Regan sat as he always did for an hour before work and an hour after work every day, working on his paperwork and looked up as Hetty walked in.

"Hey Hetty, these should be with you in an hour." Regan said with a smile.

Hetty smiled back, "Thank you Mr. Regan, however I am not here for your paperwork." She said.

"Case Hetty?" Sam asked.

"In a way, the Mitchelli case."

"Mitchelli?" Callen started. "Deeks' case!"

"New leads?" Kensi asked hopefully?

Hetty shook her head.

"No, the FBI have been advised that seeing as all trace of Mr. Deeks has disappeared, none of his bank accounts touched or family contacted, the director of the FBI has had Mr. Deeks declared legally dead." She informed them.

Callen and Sam looked mad and Kensi looked distraught, "He's not dead Hetty, I just know he's not dead." She said tears pooling in her eyes.

Hetty looked on sadly, "I'm afraid I have no other information for you either way." She admitted and walked back to her office.

* * *

Max looked over at Sara, he smiled as she stroked her belly, he reached over and felt his son kick, "Hey little man, not so impatient eh, you'll see your mom and I soon enough." He smiled as he kissed Sara.

Max looked down at his wedding ring and twirled it absentmindedly, shaking his head as the brunette beauty with mis-matched eyes flashed in his memory again. "Max?" Sara asked, "You alright?"

Max nodded, looking at his Raven haired Italian wife. He had felt safe in the year since they had married and he had changed his name to hers. Also his brother in law had finally, this week handed him control of their east coast operations.

Max Giamatti held his wife in his arms and kissed her passionately "I have to go I'm meeting Gio, he has a source for distribution in Anacostia." He told her, "I won't be long." He said.

"Be careful mi amore baby Martino is restless today, I think he feels something is wrong." She said.

"You rest and I will be back in a few hours."

Max walked out of the room as closed the door as his wife rested; she was in her third trimester and needed all the rest he could get. He walked to the hall table and took out his Smith and Wesson that he kept there. Luca his second looked at him, "I thought we were talking to Gio today?" he asked.

Max smiled the feral grin that made Luca's blood run cold.

"Gio has been talking to people he shouldn't, I intend to make sure that stops." Max said quietly and menacingly.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Gio Martinez sat on a bollard on the dock smoking a cigarette and watched as the two men pulled up in their dark sedan.

"Hey Luca, you're late." He snapped and then he took a good look who was there. "I…I….Max…I never realized you'd be coming?" he stammered.

He had been told that Max Giamatti was going to oversea some of his operation, but had no idea it was tonight. He started to sweat, he had hoped to sell Luca down the river to the feds, and lessen his charges, but this was too big, an actual Giamatti, here!

"I hear you been talking to some 3 letter birds." Max snarled, the whiskey he'd drunk earlier was obvious on his breath and Luca stepped back.

"I…No?" he said he shook a little as he remembered he was wearing a wire, Agent Sacks had given him.

Max looked at Gio who was shaking, "Luca, check the perimeter, see if we're being watched." He said and raised his gun at Gio, "You looked scared there boy, What'cha scared of eh?" a snarl like grin crossed his face, "Are we being recorded?"

The kid shook harder, "They said…they said I wouldn't do jail time, It was only to get Luca, I didn't know you'd be here sir." He was crying now and Max smiled.

"Luca is my second, there is no way I'd let the feds take him, or you…They are right Gio, you won't do jail time."

Gio relaxed for a second and then stopped looking at the nasty smile on Max's face. "Wait…my family…."

"I'll take care of your momma Gio, she bakes great cookies, and my wife loves them."

"So you're going to let me go…I'll take a message to the feds, I'll tell them I was wrong?" he begged.

"What was the agents' name…the one in charge?"

"F…Fornell….and …S…Sacks…" he stammered.

Max smiled again and pulled Gio in close so his mouth was next to the microphone on Gio's wire. "Agents' Fornell and Sacks, I suggest you stay out of my affairs and away from my family." He warned and pushed Gio away from him.

"No….NO! NO!" Gio took off running until two shots to the head stopped his flight cold.

* * *

Luca walked back in and looked at the body. "Max?" he asked.

"He was going to betray you." Max said simply.

Luca looked at the blond haired man in awe, "So you just took him out…this may create a problem." Luca warned.

Max smiled "Someone once told me the only easy day was yesterday." He laughed.

"Yeah…Who?" Luca asked and stopped as he saw the frown pass his face. "Sorry man I forgot." He said as they walked back to the car.

Max shook his head, "it's not your fault, the fact I can't remember doesn't really bother me that much anymore, I mean, if I'd had someone out there that cared they'd have come and found me, the only people that do care are Marc and Sara."

"I care Uncle Max." Luca grinned at him.

Max rolled his eyes and ruffled the boy's hair.

Luca was a good kid; he had worked hard and was Marc's son all the way. Max was surprised when a year ago Marc had sent the kid to live with him and Sara and learn the business. But he'd taken to him well and although no one else in the business knew Luca was Marc's son Luca was trying hard to earn money and make his father proud.

"Come on kid, let's get home before the cops show up." He said and climbed into the car.

* * *

Four hours later the dock was swarming in FBI agents as Gibbs and his team pulled up.

Fornell frowned as he saw his friend climb out of the car.

"Jethro, why are you here?" he asked confused.

"Dead body." Gibbs said gesturing at the body of Gio Martinez lay out on the dock.

"Oh no!" Fornell stood in front of him as DiNozzo, Bishop and McGee all piled into the back of him, Gibbs glared at them and they backed up. "This is my case Gibbs, this one is personal. You're not getting it."

Gibbs looked at his old friend and took him over to one side, "I got a call that this might be tied into the case of the murder of an NCIS agent." He said.

Fornell looked at the body, "You think Gio Martinez murdered that San Diego Agent?" He asked.

Gibbs shook his head, "No, but maybe it ties into it…care to share?" he asked. "Maybe we can help."

Fornell looked at him, "Your office an hour." He said.

"My guy's get the body." Gibbs said and nodded to his team to get to work.

Fornell looked at the team and noticed the new member. "You got Bishop, from the NSA?" he asked.

"Yep?" Gibbs said smugly.

Fornell smiled, "Good luck with that." He laughed. He called Sacks over and they headed out leaving Gibbs and the team to do the legwork.

"DiNozzo, bag and tag, Bishop, sketch, McGee, see if that camera over there works, need some video thingy for it."

"On it Boss," they all said.

* * *

Back in the office, DiNozzo had taken the evidence down to Abby in her lab as Ellie Bishop sat cross legged on her desk chewing on a granola bar and McGee was pulling up the security footage from the murder scene.

Fornell walked in and looked at the scene with a wry smile, "all working hard Jethro?" he asked.

Gibbs shot him a look and walked around his desk, "You up for sharing now Tobias,"

He slammed a folder on his desk, "Gio Martinez a small time runner for the Giamatti family. The LCN task force have been following them for some time, mostly with his activities on the west coast but a few years ago a new player arrived, we don't have much information about him, we know he didn't exist prior to three years ago, his name is Max Giamatti, brother in law to the head of the family Marc Giamatti. He's much more dangerous, he has fifteen confirmed kills in the last 3 years according to Gio, who refused to help take him down so we were focusing on Marc Giamatti's son Luca."

"So you think this Luca killed him?" Ellie asked shifting position, smiling as Tony walked back in and dropped a soda in front of her.

"No, we've heard rumors about this Max Giamatti, he's ruthless and we think he may have been responsible, but no one has caught him yet." Fornell said looking at her.

Ellie picked up the file on Max Giamatti that Fornell had left on Gibbs' desk and sat on the floor behind her own desk.

"Does she ever use a chair?" Fornell asked.

Gibbs smirked "Bishop has her own way of working, and it seems to work well." He admitted.

She looked up at them, "So Max is married to Marc's sister, that's where his name comes from, but before that, he was Max Gentry." She said.

Gibbs turned to McGee who ran the name in the computer. "Boss we got a hit. Max Gentry is a restricted alias."

"FBI, CIA?" Gibbs asked.

"No?" McGee looked puzzled, "Us, NCIS…LA…and there's a BOLO out on him." He said.

"Head to MTAC, Get Hetty online, I need to talk to her." Gibbs said.

* * *

Callen, Nell and Hetty were visible on the screen as Gibbs connected with the Los Angeles team.

"Mr. Gibbs you wanted to talk with me?" Hetty said with a slight smile as Gibbs bristled as the use of the Mr.

"I have a case may be linked to one of yours out her, we have a body a man called Gio Martinez, we think he was involved in organized crime down here, the FBI have the case but Martinez was dealing on Navy ground and we got called in, but we have a name but you guys have the file on lockdown, Max Gentry?"

"Deeks!" Nell said and covered her mouth as Callen looked over at her concerned. He turned back to Gibbs, "Gentry was an alias for one of my men, our LAPD Liaison, Marty Deeks, he went rogue and we lost him, FBI said he was dead."

Gibbs nodded to McGee, "We have a recording…taken off the body, he was wired for a FBI sting." He said he stood back as McGee played the voice recording through the room.

"You're going to let me go…I'll take a message to the feds, I'll tell them I was wrong?" Gio's desperate voice came over the speakers.

"What was the agents' name…the one in charge?" Deeks' voice was clearly heard and Nell gasped as Callen put a steadying hand on her shoulder.

"F…Fornell….and …S…Sacks…" Gio stammered the terror in his voice evident.

Max/Deeks' voice came clearer as he spoke directly into the microphone, "Agents' Fornell and Sacks, I suggest you stay out of my affairs and away from my family." He warned the sound of Gio's body falling away was evident.

"No….NO! NO!" Gio's running footsteps were heard and then the sounds of gunshots.

McGee stopped the recording as he looked on the screen he could see Hetty's shocked face, Callen's barely contained anger and tears streaming down Nell's face

"Gibbs, I'm bringing my team over to Washington," Callen said looking to Hetty as if waiting for her to challenge him. "Deeks was ours; We need to know what's going on with him."

Gibbs nodded, "See you soon Callen. Stay low." He said and signed off.

In Los Angeles a shocked group of people looked at each other for a second not sure how to proceed.

"Mr. Callen I suggest you get your team together, Ms Jones, can you book them some flights and accommodation." Hetty said.

Nell nodded going to book the four tickets for the team as Callen went to fill in the others.

"And Mr. Callen?" Hetty said as he was halfway down the stairs.

He turned to look at her, "If it's possible…bring him home." She said.

He gave her a small smile and carried on down to his team.

 


	3. Chapter 3

Max slammed the door as he walked in the house and went straight over to the bar and poured himself a whiskey.

"Damn….Damn….Damn…." he cursed to himself.

"Max?" Sara called walking into the room. "Is everything ok?"

Max shrugged, "I was sloppy; I haven't been this bad since….."

"Since?" she asked kissing him.

"Since I was him…but that's a past life and I'm never going back to that weak insufferable idiot, Max fits me better, I'm happier being him. It's me…" he argued more with himself that with her.

Sara smiled, "I know you didn't want to give up being Deeks completely." She sighed and rubbed her belly, "Little Marty is proof of that." She handed him his pills and he took them and turned to her.

"Well he won't have some stupid cop in his childhood telling him about wrong and right and how you have to have a moral code…" Max shook his head, "Morals suck and are for the weak."

Sara smiled at him.

Max blinked a few times and yawned as his meds kicked in, "I'm tired." He snapped.

Sara stepped back. She knew better than to get within arm's reach for an hour or so after he'd taken his meds. She wasn't sure what was in them but her brother had insisted that he take them as he would die without them, but that whatever they were if given a choice he would refuse them and die. So she gave them to him as vitamins, Max didn't know any better and she didn't push it.

A while later she climbed into bed as Max put his arm around her, "I love you Sara." He breathed into her hair, "I can feel him banging in there, hold me make him go away." He said desperately clinging onto her she held him letting him know he was ok as he fell asleep and had the dream which haunted him so much.

* * *

It was night, he could hear running footsteps and water, he knew he was undercover and he was trying to bring down the bad guy who had dogged the LAPD for months, he'd been following this guy for a week solid when he'd lost him.

Looking out he saw one of Mitchelli's men standing guard at the bottom of a gangplank by a boat, he had tried to call Hetty and have her call the team for back up, the call had connected but he hadn't heard them, although with Eric's prowess he was absolutely sure he had heard him and help was on the way. He stopped when he heard a gasp from behind him.

"Marty!" a woman's voice cut through the gloom.

Deeks turned around gun in his hand, "No…Mom?" he stopped as she wavered struggling against the arm that was around her neck.

"Didn't you think we'd find out," the shadow encased man said, "Max Gentry…more like Marty Deeks LAPD. But soon you won't care about that."

"Let her go…please…" he begged.

"I don't think so." There was a sickening pop sound and the woman crumpled to the floor. Deeks screamed and moved towards her feeling the pinprick in his neck as he went past the man. He staggered a bit and fell forward reaching for the woman as she man in the shadows kicked her body off the dock into the water.

"Nooo." He moaned. Where were they, why weren't they here to back him up….his vision became foggy and he climbed up and staggered out from behind the crates. He saw a man standing there holding a gun that turned and looked towards him. Not thinking he aimed his gun a fired.

He watched with satisfaction as the man fell into the river, he didn't care anymore…he didn't know why he didn't care anymore, but the man's death had provoked no feelings in him whatsoever.

"Max!" the other man's voice came….Max who was Max? oh yeah…he was Max…Max was a good person to be, Max didn't care, Max couldn't be hurt, Max had no one to rely on but himself, Max was safe. A safe place to be he was Max.

He shook his still groggy head and scratched his neck where the thing had bit him and followed the kid to the car.

Marc Giamatti stepped out of the shadows and watched as the former LAPD officer and one of his new protégés headed to the airport. He picked up his cell phone and made a call. "Sara, I'm sending a friend, Max Gentry to you…yeah the guy you met last year, he's had an accident can't remember who he is…well he can but he's a bit foggy, there are some pills in his pocket, make sure he takes one every two days, he's ill Sara, he'll die if he doesn't." Marc smiled as his sister got all worried and promised to do as he asked.

Marc closed the phone, and smiled, walking away he knew be it months or years before they found him, with those drugs in his system the man's sense of right and wrong would be so skewed that the LAPD would never take him back and all the evidence he had gathered on the family would be useless.

* * *

Eddie, Sam, Kensi and Callen, finally touched down in Washington DC and Callen went over to the car rental place to pick up a sedan left in their names.

Grabbing their bags and sitting in the car, Kensi turned to the boys, "Are we headed to the Navy yard or to a hotel first?" she asked hoping for the latter.

Callen shrugged and pulled out his phone, "Jethro…G…we got time to unpack first or do you want us there," he looked at the clock, it was nearly dinner time and he had to admit he was hungry. "Ok…Cowboy steaks…your place…" Callen laughed, "I'll take my room, you got space for the others?" he asked. He waited as Kensi, Sam and Eddie looked at him strangely, "Sure on my way."

He closed the phone and looked at the team "Ok, guy's we're going to unpack and eat first." He told them.

"Cool. You get us a decent hotel G?" Sam asked with a smile.

"You're staying the same place I did while I was here recuperating from my gunshot wounds a few years ago." He told them.

The drove to East Laurel street in Alexandria and pulled up outside an older craftsman style house; "Here? We're staying at some old bed and breakfast?" Eddie asked.

Callen looked slightly affronted, "You don't like it Regan, there's a motel up the road. This isn't some old bed and breakfast, this is my home on the east coast." He smiled as he noticed the car in the driveway.

Kensi and Sam stood at the door waiting for Callen to knock.

"It's never locked guys," he said and walked in dropping his bag by the door and taking off his jacket.

"Jethro!" he called walking into the kitchen and helping himself to a beer, The others stood nervously as the heard footsteps climbing a set of stairs.

"Callen, you drinking my beer yet?" the gravelly voice called back.

Sam and Kensi were shocked as Callen sunk into the oversized couch and put his feet up on the coffee table. "YEP!" he shouted back. "Come and sit down he'll be here in a sec." Callen assured them. All three of them stood inside the living room as an older man walked around the corner.

* * *

"Gibbs." Sam smiled and greeted the man, "Long time no see how's it hanging?"

Gibbs looked at him, "fine, Ms. Blye?" he smiled at her remembering her from the operation Blackbird case, "And you are?" he looked at the new man.

"Eddie Regan Sir." Eddie held his hand out.

"Don't call me sir, I work for a living, just Gibbs'll do." He said he looked at Callen drinking beer on his coffee table. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes, "How many foster parents told you not to put your feet on the table?" he asked knocking them off and reaching for a beer.

"Just you Gibbs," Callen smiled.

Sam looked at the pair of them and realized the familiarity they had had to have stemmed back years.

"He was one of the 37?" Sam asked as he too took a seat and Gibbs moved to light the fire.

Callen nodded, "Last one." He admitted.

Gibbs turned from the fire, "G, you have your room, Kensi can have the one next to yours and Sam and Eddie you can share my room."

"Where are you going to sleep?" Kensi asked.

"I rack on the sofa." He said pointing to the pillow and blanket on the end table. "We'll eat soon and then we'll go over the case as we eat."

The team nodded and went to unpack, all following Callen as they sought to get a glimpse of the room he had as a teenager.

Callen sighed and opened the door, "Look now, but hurry I need to shower, don't touch the DVD's they're Tony's." He warned them, "That lot's mine." He said gesturing to the books and nick knacks on the other side of the room. "We share it."

"Tony?" Eddie asked.

"DiNozzo, Gibbs' SFA. We share the room," Was all Callen would say as he walked and dropped his bag on the bed. "Kensi, you have Kelly's room…Gibb's daughter, she died, don't ask." Callen said quickly. "And guy's you're in here. You and Sam can toss for the bed." Callen grinned as he walked back into his own room to shower.

Eddie looked at the bed and then the floor. "I'll take the floor." He offered not wanting to upset Sam. Sam smiled as he saw the cot in the corner. "You don't need to…you can use this." He said handing the folding bed to him.

Eddie nodded and set to work setting the bed up.

Half an hour later refreshed and eating Gibbs talked them through what they had so far.

 


	4. Chapter 4

The others had headed up to bed as Callen sat on the sofa with Gibbs looking through the case file.

"What about that new kid of yours?" Callen asked.

Gibbs glared at him, "New Agent, not new kid." He snapped.

Callen nodded, "Still hurts dad?" he asked, there was no one around and Callen could let his guard down. "Ziva did what she had to do; at least it wasn't like Caitlyn. How's Tony taking it?" he asked worried about his 'brother'.

Gibbs sighed and drank his beer, "He's coping, slowly getting through it, but he's like you unless you know what to look for you ain't gonna see it." He said.

"Been here much?" Callen asked.

"A few times," Gibbs admitted. "He joined a support group for men," he said.

Callen's eyebrow shot up and he smirked, "Really?!"

Gibbs glared at him, "You will NOT mention it, or pick on him about it." He ordered.

Callen rolled his eyes, "Yes dad,"

"Seriously G, he's trying his best and this is a good thing for him," Gibbs added.

Callen stifled a yawn,

"Finally, Jet lag wins in the battle against Callen's insomnia." Gibbs chuckled.

"Huh?"

"Go to bed son, we have work to do in the morning, we'll be leaving at 0600, gonna meet up with the Feds, hope your team is ready by then."

Callen yawned again and nodded, finally heading up to bed.

06.00 and the team was up, dressed and ready to leave, Callen was the last one down, he was dressed but not entirely awake. He got to the bottom of the stairs and stopped as a hand put a mug of coffee in one hand and his bag in the other.

"Callen, it's to go head to the car,"

"Yes dad," he said sleepily, taking three steps outside in the cold D.C. air and realizing what he had just said. He turned to see his team all stunned behind him, shrugging it off he turned to them, "So you driving, Sam?" he asked as he watched Gibbs pull off.

"Neither of you going to lock up?" Kensi asked,

"Na, just pull the door up, come on we're going to be late."

Sam walked past dropping his voice so the others couldn't hear, "Yes dad." He said with a grin which got wider at Callen's glare.

* * *

Max woke up and reached over for Sara. She wasn't there and he sat up abruptly. "Sara?" he called around the empty room.

"Max…" Sara's voice came from the bathroom, "Max…I think I need help." She called.

Within seconds Max was in there beside Sara as she was sliding down the wall, "My water broke, Marty's coming." She said.

Max opened the bedroom door and yelled down the hall, "LUCA!"

"Yeah?" Luca's sleepy voice came, "What's up Max?"

"Get the car, the baby's coming." Max shot his nephew a grin and went back to help his wife.

"Max. I just need to get dressed and get my bag." Sara said now her contraction had passed she waddled into the bedroom.

"I'll get it," he walked up to her had kissed her "We're gonna be parents." He grinned, in the three years since he had been with Sara this was his happiest moment.

Sara nodded and winced, "Max?" her face looked worried, "They're too fast…I think…" she winced again, "Call the paramedics."

Max opened his cell phone and made the call and he helped Sara onto the bed.

Five minutes later Sara was breathing heavily and Max was losing his cool, there were no paramedics and he could see the baby's head.

"Hello?!" a voice called up the stairs. The voice sounded familiar but Max shook it off as a large African American man and a smaller man walked in the room,

"Hey she needs help we can see the baby's head." Max said moving to Sara's side.

Sam shot Callen a look, there was no recognition at all on Deeks' side, and it had been sheer luck that the FBI had intercepted the paramedic call, they had jumped in as soon as they got to the FBI stakeout.

"Help her?" Max snarled.

* * *

Sam had delivered babies and he took point Callen taking Sara's blood pressure, "I'm Greg and this is Tom," Callen said introducing themselves to Sara.

"Sara Giamatti, my husband Max…and hopefully soon our son Marty."

"Marty?" Sam asked shocked.

Sara hissed as another contraction made her bare down.

"Ok Ma'am you need to push." Sam said.

"Come on baby," Max said sitting behind Sara on the bed and supporting her.

Sara cried, the pain overwhelming her. Max hadn't even remembered to take his meds this morning, and the two men at the end of the bed were making him jumpy.

"Do something." He ordered.

Sam kept up the charade even though he just wanted to tell Deeks to shut up, "The head's out, now just the shoulders." Sam said.

"He's nearly here babe, you're doing great." Max prompted his wife.

Sara screamed as she pushed again and suddenly she fell back exhausted as a baby's cry filled the room.

* * *

Fornell turned to Gibbs in the stakeout, "Was that a baby?" he asked.

Gibbs shrugged, they knew that paramedics had been called that morning to the Giamatti home, but they had no information about children living there.

Luca already cuffed and standing behind them grinned, "Marty, I have a cousin."

Kensi blanched, "Marty?"

"Max and Sara have a son. You will never take him now; my uncle will fight to protect his wife and child." He snapped.

Sam tied off the cord, "You wanna cut it?" he asked Deeks.

Max moved and cut the cord, Sam wrapped the baby and handed it to Sara, "We need to take you to hospital for your postnatal check up."

Max looked at his son, "He's beautiful Sara." He said kissing her.

Sara looked up at Max as Callen and Sam transferred her to a chair for moving, "Max grab my bag and don't forget your meds baby." She said.

Opening the pill bottle beside the bed, Max took one of his tablets and grabbed Sara's bag.

"We'll take her," Sam said "You follow in the car. We're going to Bethesda." He told him.

Max nodded. He walked to his car and as Callen closed the ambulance he looked at Sam, "He didn't recognize us at all?"

"I know, I would like to take a closer look at those med." Sam said as the regular ambulance men took over.

"These meds?" Callen handed the pill container to Sam.

"Um, they looked privately made, no pill name on them." He said.

"Abby might be able to figure out what they are."

* * *

Max drove halfway down the road then he was stopped by a flurry of police cars. "MAX GIAMATTI…FBI…STEP OUT OF THE CAR WITH YOUR HANDS UP." A voice came over a loudspeaker.

"What?" Max snarled, he threw the car in reverse and drove backwards up the road.

"Dammit!" Fornell snapped, he turned to where Gibbs had been standing moments before to see his car and the rental car the Los Angeles team were using heading up the road on the heels of Max's car.

Fornell turned to his team, "Well don't just stand there, GET HIM!" he yelled running for his car.

Luca for his part was sat in the back or Fornell's car, "Go uncle Max." he grinned as he saw Max's BMW M3 GTR speeding up the road knowing that maybe apart from the yellow and black car, none of the other cars were going to catch him.

Kensi and Eddie peeled off from the pursuit.

"Kensi, you not going after him?" he asked as Callen and Sam caught up to them.

She got out of the car, "So we're heading to Bethesda right? If he goes anywhere it's gonna be to see his kid."

Sam nodded, "Yeah, kids cute, but if Gibbs doesn't catch up to him that's where he'll head to, Regan, you're with me, we are taking these to Ms Sciuto, we need to know what Deeks' has been taking."

"Kenz, you and I are off to Bethesda hopefully we'll get Deeks before the FBI does." Callen said and held out his hand, "I'm driving." He told her.

* * *

Max pulled up the car having finally lost the yellow charger he got out of the car and proceeded to lose his temper on his car, he kicked it and swore pacing up and down, one thing was clear to him, the FBI were going to take his wife and son from him. They were the only stable thing he could remember and he wasn't having some do-gooder cop trying to turn his son against him.

He opened the trunk of the car, he moved the baby car seat he had into the back seat and set it up, ready for his son, he had two pre-packed emergency bags and $50,000 ready for a fast move, he checked the magazine on his gun, it was fully loaded.

He climbed into his car, god help anyone who stood between him and his son. He looked in the mirror to see a sad version of him staring back.

"This is wrong, you need to trust them" the mirror version of Max said.

"Shut up." Max snarled.

"You're son is safe where he is."

"Shut up." Max snapped again.

"They can help, you're going crazy." The mirror version of him said calmly.

Max hit the steering wheel until his hands bled, "SHUTUP,SHUTUP,SHUTUP!" He screamed.

He reached into his pocket but his meds weren't there.

"Sara has them," he decided,

He drove to Bethesda not noticing that the yellow car he'd been running from was parked near the entrance, He walked in the main entrance scratching his head, the voice inside practically screaming at him to stop.

He stopped near a glass panel, the entrance was empty but for a nurse sitting in reception, he shook his head and walked on.

"Can I help you sir?" the woman asked.

"Maternity." He snapped.

"Second floor." She said her eyes were sad as they searched his for any sign that he knew her.

Max scratched at his head again.

"Shut up!" he hissed to himself shaking his head to clear it as he walked towards the elevator.

The door opened and the old man from the yellow charger was there his gun pulled, "NCIS FREEZE DEEKS." Gibbs growled.

Max's hand went for the gun at his waist.

"Deeks please!" Kensi's voice cut through his haze.

"SHUT UP!" He screamed waving the gun around, "I need Sara, move old man or I'll kill you." He snarled.

"Deeks!" Callen warned.

"SHUT UP DEEKS IS DEAD!SHUT THE HELL UP!" Deeks dropped to his knees and held his head…."Please….I need Sara I need my meds…." He howled as a burst of pain shot through his head and his eyes rolled to the back of his head.

* * *

A real doctor who had been nearby moved out past the agents, "What meds is this man on?" he asked.

Callen pulled a tablet out of his pocket.

The doctors eyes widened, "This is a highly psychotropic drug, stopping these will kill him, I need to give him this now, but this is a huge dose for someone his size,"

"Give him it." Callen ordered.

The doctor fed Deeks the tablet and laid him out on a gurney, "We will need to dial his meds down slowly." He said.

"Write a script doc, we're taking him in, he's wanted for murder." Gibbs ordered.

The doctor looked at him, "Agent Gibbs, your reputation here precedes you. You can take him, but I am coming to make sure he's stable, anything at all goes wrong with him, and I'm bringing him in and you'll have to shoot me to stop me."

Gibbs looked at the doctor, "Ok Doc."

"Strohl, Lance corporal, Marines." He said proudly.

Gibbs nodded. "Ok Strohl, but you are responsible for him."

"I still feel we should keep him here," the doctor protested.

"He's a dangerous criminal, he'll be safer in isolation at NCIS, and our ME will be on hand to assist you." Gibbs offered.

Finally the doc nodded.

Deeks moaned the doc transferred him to a gurney and they took him to NCIS.

"Sara…Marty…." Deeks groaned as he fought against the restraints, Dr. Strohl injected him with a sedative and he fell into a fitful sleep.

 


	5. Chapter 5

Max opened his eyes and found himself in a dark room, on a gurney, strapped on a gurney…with handcuffs!

"Sara!" He called pulling at his restraints.

"Mr. Deeks calm down!" Dr. Strohl said quietly.

Max pulled at his restraints, "Let me go you've got the wrong guy!"

The doctor slowly moved the gurney to a sitting position, "Where the hell am I?" Max snarled. "Where's Sara?! And who are you?"

"I am Dr. Strohl; I am here to help wean you off your medication."

Max shook his head, "No, you can't…I'll die! You're trying to kill me!"

"I assure you Mr. Deeks, I am trying to do nothing of the kind, and can you tell me who prescribed your medication."

Behind the glass Deeks' old team, Gibbs and DiNozzo watched as the former detective fought every step of the way with the doctor.

"Very well, Max…" Dr Strohl said as he took out a notebook, "Tell me what you know about yourself."

"What do you mean?" Max looked wary,

"You say you are not Martin Deeks and that your name is Max Giamatti, what is your earliest memory?"

Max shook his head, "I don't….My….what?" he looked confused, "Where's Sara? She has my medication."

"She's in the hospital, she will be fine." The doctor reassured him.

"Hospital? Why is she in hospital? What happened? Who hurt her?" He pulled at his restraints again "I'll kill them!" he snarled.

"She's not hurt she had a baby do you remember?" The doctor asked.

"Baby?" Max looked even more confused, "Sara had a baby?"

"You have a son, called Martin,"

"No…No I don't…I…" Max groaned as his head hurt again. His hand started flexing and within moments he was convulsing.

The doctor looked at the two-way mirror, "I have to give him another dose of this, does anyone know what it is yet?" he asked, making sure Deeks got another dose of the medication.

Within moments the medication took effect and Deeks was laying asleep on the gurney.

* * *

Abby came running down the hallway, "I know what the drug is!" she said as she burst into the observation room. "Oh Poor Deeks!" she exclaimed looking at him asleep on the gurney.

"What is it Abbs?" Gibbs asked as the doctor entered.

"Its Zaleplon it's a sedative-hypnotic, almost entirely used for the treatment of insomnia. It is a non-benzodiazepine hypnotic from the pyrazolopyrimidine class,"

"Huh?" Tony said.

"It's a drug used to treat insomnia, it makes the sufferer sleep but it has a side effect, it's a sedative Hypnotic, Long-term use of sedative-hypnotics for insomnia has traditionally been discouraged for reasons that include concerns about such potential adverse drug effects as cognitive impairment, Anterograde amnesia, daytime sedation, musculo-skeletal impairment, and subsequently an increased risk of harm to oneself and to others." Abby said waiting for the information to sink in.

"So it's not his fault?" Kensi asked.

"No, but he's been on such a high dose that he doesn't know anything about what's going on with him."

"So, he's all drugged up we can have our Deeks back?" Sam asked.

"Guy's drugged or not He killed someone." Regan said.

"Yes but we need to find out why the Anterograde amnesia happened in the first place, it also means everything he knows is what he's being told, everyday by this Sara person. And…" Abby paused as she breathed, "I think the big question is why he only remembers her and not his team?"

Gibbs nodded in agreement.

* * *

Sara sat up in her bed in the maternity ward, little Marty was dozing by her side in his crib, "Nurse, have you heard from my husband yet?" she asked.

The nurse walked up to her bed, "I'm sorry Mrs. Giamatti, but I haven't."

The nurse left the room and was stopped by a blonde woman and a youngish looking man with badges; she nodded and let them in.

"Mrs. Giamatti?" The man asked.

She looked at her baby and then up at them, "Yes?"

"I am Special Agent McGee and this is Agent Bishop, NCIS we'd like to ask you a few questions." Tim said.

"Do you really need to talk to me now? I just had a baby?" Sara said

"Ma'am we know you have been cleared for release and we have been authorized to take you in for questioning."

"I…but I…?" Sara looked worried.

"I'll wait outside while you get dressed Ma'am." Tim said.

Sara sat in her room as the two agents waited outside, this was not going as her brother had planned it, now she had a child and Max was in custody and she could see herself behind bars just for following her brother's orders.

She held Marty and looked at him, he was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, "I love you so much little one, but I can't stay, I hope one day you'll forgive me." She kissed him and lay him back down in his bassinet. She pulled her clothes on and snuck out through the second door in the bathroom that was shared with the room next door.

Five minutes passed and Marty started crying.

Emily looked at Tim; "I don't think she's in there?" she said and knocked on the door as the baby's cries got louder. Emily opened the door and realized that apart from the crying baby the room was empty.

"Gibbs is gonna kill us!" Tim sighed. He turned to leave but Emily called him back.

"We can't leave the baby, we'll have to take him with us." She picked him up with a much practiced hand.

"Bishop, do you have kids?" Tim asked.

She shook her head, "No, but my brother does. Two." She replied getting Marty dressed into an outfit and clean diaper. Grabbing a Nurse Tim managed to secure a car seat for little Marty to travel in and they set off back to the navy yard.

* * *

Deeks sat up groaning, he was surprised to find this time he wasn't cuffed to the gurney.

"I've put you on a new medication that should help with the effects of the one you have been on." Dr Strohl said.

"Medication?" Deeks said, "Doc, Where am I?"

He swung his legs over the edge of the bed, and vomited into a bowl that was nearby, "God what happened?"

"What's your name?" the doctor asked.

"Marty Deeks? I'm not crazy doc I know my name."

"What year is it?" the doctor asked,

Deeks reached for a glass of water, "2010, why? Look my head feels fine. Is Kensi ok?"

"I don't believe this!" Regan snapped from the other side of the glass, "We're supposed to believe he's suddenly better?"

"No," Abby replied, "Right now with this 'antidote' he's lucid, as his need for the medication kicks in again he'll be less lucid until it eventually clears his system. He's gonna swing between Deeks and Max until we can get him stabilized, we just need to find out whether it was the drug or something else that sent him over the edge in the first place.

Callen looked at Gibbs and they walked out into the hallway with Tony.

"I'm worried about this," Callen admitted.

"Ya think?" Gibbs said

"I'm worried about Regan, has he ever met Deeks?" Tony asked.

Callen shook his head, "He came on board after Deeks' disappearance,"

"I'll watch him, if this is not Deeks' fault we need to find out who did this to him and why?" Tony reiterated.

Callen smiled at his 'brother' "Tone, I think you need to go in with Kensi. You're right I can't send Regan, and Sam and Deeks were not on the best of terms, besides it's time we filled Hetty and the director in, right Gibbs?"

Tony smiled, "Sure G, I'll take her in for a bit."

Tim and Bishop walked around the corner, "Boss we have a problem." He said and looked down at the sleeping baby in the carrier.

"Where is Sara Giamatti?" Callen asked.

"She left…she left a note for Deeks and the baby."

Callen took the bagged note and read it. "Oh my God!" he looked down at the poor kid. "Do not call child services, if Deeks won't take him on I will." He said instantly.

"Callen?" Gibbs asked.

Callen just looked at him, "Deeks was, is on my team, this happened to him, do you not think I wouldn't step up to support my team dad!"

Tim and Bishop looked shocked.

Gibbs grinned, "No son, I think before Kensi goes in Deeks should meet Marty Junior."

"Poor kid," Tony snapped, "No one calls this kid Junior right!" he said glaring at the small group of people.

They all nodded and Tony went to talk to Kensi as Callen and Gibbs carried little Marty in to see his dad.

* * *

Deeks looked up as the door opened, "Callen!" he smiled, "You wanna tell this doc I'm ok. Hetty will be going mad with me stuck…wherever the heck we are?"

"You're in D.C. Deeks." Callen said.

"D…D.C?" Deeks stopped and looked at him, Callen looked older and he was carrying a baby.

"How did I get here?" he asked.

"Deeks it's 2013, this is Martin Deeks Junior, your son." He said showing him the baby.

"My…NO!...who?" Deeks looked around, "Ok this is Sam's idea of a joke yeah?"

Callen placed the baby next to Deeks who turned and looked at him, he was cute, Deeks had to admit that, and he looked like him, "Who's his…."

"Your wife, Sara Giamatti."

"Giamatti…like Marc Giamatti the crime lord I was going to meet with?"

Deeks moved away from the baby, "Callen? I don't like this; what's going on?"

Callen handed Gibbs the baby noting that Deeks reached his hand out to stroke the child's cheek as he passed him, there was something there.

Gibbs handed the baby out the door to Bishop.

"Where's he going?" Deeks asked.

"Just outside, someone's going to feed him."

"Can you tell us about the op with Marc Giamatti?" Callen asked sitting on a chair as Gibbs leaned against the wall.

"Sure Bates sent me in undercover, we were due to meet down at the docks, then….then…." Deeks started hyperventilating, "no…" Deeks breathed as some memories hit him.

"You shot and NCIS agent and a woman." Callen said nodding to the tech in the other room that ran the camera footage that Eric had pulled all those years ago.

Deeks watched his eyes wide and tears streaming down his face, "No…no I didn't kill her, I wouldn't kill her I couldn't…he stood up and walked to the far corner of the room and sank to his knees. "NO you're lying, Sara….SARA!" he yelled, "I need it to go away I need my meds, please Callen, don't make me watch this!"

Gibbs pulled up the picture of the dead woman and Deeks threw up in a trash can, "GET IT OFF!" he snarled and threw the trash can at the plasma,

"Deeks who is that."

Max looked at them, "I already told you I'm not Deeks! Get those out of here!" he grabbed the photos and threw them at Callen, "Get out of here cop and take the whore's picture with you."

"Who is she?" Callen persisted

"Her name is Mary Deeks, she was no one." Max snarled.

He stopped as he heard a cry from the hallway, "Sara? Is Sara here is that my son…You can't hold them, you harm them and I'll kill the lot of you!" Max snarled trying to open the door, he only stopped as the Doctor who had been sitting unnoticed in the corner injected Max with a huge hit of sedatives.

Deeks looked at the picture as he started to sway, "Mom…no!" he fell back with Callen and the doctor catching him and steering him to bed. "Callen help me!" Deeks begged as the sedative took effect.

* * *

"NO WAY? You've got to be kidding me…Hetty really!" Regan said as Callen and his team stood in front of Hetty in MTAC.

"Mr. Callen do you agree with Mr. Regan's assessment of the situation?" Hetty asked.

Callen shook his head, "The doc says it has something to do with the drug the Giamatti's kept him on and that 'Max' must have been Deeks coping mechanism to seeing his mother shot. Also there is the baby to consider in all of this."

"BUT!" Regan spluttered, "He shot an NCIS Agent."

"Maybe not Eddie, we didn't know about the second person there, we don't at this point know if Deeks or someone else shot him and if it was Deeks what was his state of mind? We can't overlook that." Callen argued. "I'm not saying Deeks is innocent or guilty, I'm just saying we need to complete our investigation."

"Mr. Callen, what about the child?"

Callen turned and mumbled a bit, "Mr. Callen?" Hetty pushed, "Have you revealed to Mr. Deeks that he is a father?"

"He doesn't believe me, but Max does and wants his boy back."

"So when Mr. Deeks is healed, do you think he will take the child or should be contact child services?" she asked.

"NO!" Callen snapped, "Hetty, can you have a lawyer draw me up a set of adoption papers, if Deeks won't take Marty, I'll adopt him."

"Oh this gets better and better, you'll marry his wife next!" Regan said sarcastically.

"SHUT UP REGAN!" Sam, Callen and Kensi said at the same time.

Regan folded his arms and moved away from the group.

"Mr. Regan I want you on the next plane back to LA, I do not think your presence will be helpful to the investigation." Hetty said sternly.

"Mr. Callen I will do what I can and get them to you as soon as possible, in the meantime protect that child and try to find his mother, I will have a team this end track down Marc Giamatti and see if he can tell us more about this drug they've been giving to Mr. Deeks all these years, and Mr. Callen. See if Ms Scuito can find out the long term effect of exposure to his drug." She said.

Callen nodded and cut off the call, ignoring Regan he walked out of MTAC, at the top of the stairs he turned to look at his ex-teammate, "Regan, DiNozzo will take you back to Gibbs' house, help you pack and take you to the airport."

Tony looked up at that "I will?"

"Yeah." Callen said jogging down the stairs and stopping in front of his 'brothers' desk, "Don't let him in our room." He said.

"Oh!" Tony said nodding in comprehension.

Callen stopped and picked up the baby, holding him with a gentle rocking motion he soothed the baby who had been fretting. "Its ok kid, it's all gonna be ok." Callen said to the baby as Sam Kensi and the DC team stood watching gob smacked.

Callen turned with Marty in his arms, "Deeks is one of us, now we need to find out what they did to him and help bring him home. Coz this kid needs and deserves to be with his father, are you guys in?"

Callen smiled as the whole team nodded.

"Let's do it!" Sam said.

 


	6. Chapter 6

He woke up, alone in a room with a glass window…no not a window a mirror. The room was dim and the light seemed to be filtered, he sat up rubbing his hands down his face. He looked at his wrists they were wrapped in bandages, pulling one down he noticed burns from where something had chaffed him. There was a plastic cup and a jug of water in the room on a small four legged table. He reached over and lifted the water to his lips. He took a small sip, it seemed ok. But he wasn't sure. A tremor pulsed through his body and he rubbed his arms up and down with his hands to ward off the perceived chill. The door opened and a man walked in.

"How are you feeling?" Dr Strohl asked.

Marty looked up at him, "Fine." He looked past the man trying to see out into the hallway, there were none of the usual sounds that he could here, no doctors in the background and no nurses walking by and no sounds of patients.

"Where am I?" He asked as the doctor shut the door.

"You're friend told you…you're in D.C."

"D.C? Like Washington D.C?..." Marty's eyes went wide. "I can't be here! I'm gonna get it bad!" he looked around for his clothes but only had hospital scrubs on. "This isn't a hospital is it?" he asked.

The doctor shook his head. "No you're in custody." He said and stepped back in shock as Deeks started to cry.

Sam looked at Gibbs through the glass, "Is he crying?" He asked in shock. Kensi looked over at Callen who shrugged; he glanced at baby Marty asleep in the car-seat.

"Is this a side effect of the medication?" Callen asked.

The others looked on at him. "I have no idea." Gibbs said. "Hanna, you go in and ask the doctor. See if you can get him to let us in on what's going on."

Sam nodded and walked out of observation and knocked on the door to the room Marty was in.

"Come in…" Dr. Strohl said.

"Hey Doc I…." Sam stopped as Deek jumped off the bed and moved to the corner of the room like a scared rabbit, his eyes darted from the doctor to Sam and he pulled himself into a ball and covered his head. "Doc?"

"I didn't mean too…Is…is he dead?" Deeks asked looking up at Sam through his arm.

"The man you shot?" Sam asked thinking he was talking about Dickerson, "Yeah, you wanna tell me what happened?" he asked.

Deeks cried harder. "I…I didn't want to kill him. Ray said it'd just stop him and he'd go away."

"Ray?" Sam asked sitting on the bed.

Deeks sobbed harder, "Does momma hate me now…am I gonna get the 'lectric chair?" he asked his breath hitching between sobs.

"The what?"

"Da…Dadd…he said…I was bad and I was gonna be so bad I'd get the 'lectric chair…I don't want that…he said your brains boil and you die peeing your pants…" He dissolved into hysterical sobbing, "He's gonna haunt me and kill me now!" he moved further away from the two men. "He's gonna get me and now I can't hide…I just wanted to stop him hurting us, I just wanted to stay safe." His red rimmed blue eyes looked up at Sam with such sorrow that he wanted to hug the detective.

"Agent Dickenson was hurting you?" Sam asked.

"Who?" Marty stopped crying and wiped his eyes.

Sam stood up and Marty shrank back.

The doctor stepped in-between both of them. "What's your name son?" he asked. Sam looked confused and sat back down.

"M…Marty…Br...Brandel…" He sniffed wiping his eyes on the back of his hand.

"How old are you?" The doctor shot a glance at Sam.

"'Leven." He sniffed.

"Who did you shoot if you didn't shoot Agent Dickenson?" The doctor asked him.

"My…D…D…Daddy." Marty looked up, "I didn't want to kill him honest…but no one would help and he…he hurted me a lot. I just wanted to police to take him away so I could…" his voice trailed away and the doctor looked at him.

The doctor turned to Sam, "out." He said then he turned to Marty, "You'll be fine son; you just have a glass of water and wait here.

"But…" Marty started fidgeting. "Yes sir." He said looking up again as Sam.

* * *

Sam and the doc walked out of the room to find Gibbs, DiNozzo, Kensi and Callen waiting for him.

"What was that?" Gibbs asked.

"I think the medication is fracturing his personality without the reinforcement of the memory Sara Giamatti was giving him, he's disassociating and he's latching on to the nearest personality in his head that matches the situation."

"His eleven year old self identifies with this?" DiNozzo asked horror-struck.

Callen nodded, "It would, he shot his father when he was eleven, it was a through and through, nice clean shot." He mused aloud. Gibbs glared at him.

"We can't charge him with anything, not while he's in this state no court in the land would convict him. So that means keeping Fornell and the Feds out of the way. He needs to heal." Gibbs said.

Callen turned to Kensi, "Deeks finds Sam threatening in this persona. Maybe you should be in there with him, Tone, you wanna go with Da…Gibbs and head off Toby?" he asked.

Tony smiled at the slip up. "Yeah sure Cal,"

"Sam and I will…"

"Sam will work with Bishop and McGee. You have to take Abby and go shopping." Gibbs said to him.

"What for?" Callen asked.

Gibbs opened the door and turned Callen towards the sleeping newborn.

"Oh…OH! God I forgot!...I can't ever forget about him." Callen said shocked.

Gibbs fished out his wallet, "There ya go son, get everything he needs and take him home."

"How can I investigate this case and look after Marty?" Callen asked worried.

"Agent Callen I believe I owe you one." Director Vance said walking down the corridor, "I just heard about the baby and Mr. Deeks from Agents' McGee and Bishop." He said, "Take Ms Sciuto and the rest of the day drop round this address before you head to the Navy Yard in the morning, Leave the baby there."

"I'm not putting him in care!" Callen said taking a step between the director and the baby.

"I would never suggest it," Leon said slightly affronted, "Like I said I owe you, this is my house and that is my children's nanny, she has agreed to look after baby Marty until you leave for Los Angeles."

Callen looked relieved, confused but relieved, "Thank you sir, but what do you owe me for?" he asked.

Vance smiled, "Picking my pocket, Hetty is too valuable an agent to lose."

Callen looked contrite and cleared his throat, "Er…Sir, You _ **knew**_  that was me?"

Vance smiled, "You can take the kid of the street, but you can't take the street out of the kid." He quoted; Callen looked confused, he was sure that by the time he'd said that to Hetty, Director Vance had been on a plane bound back for Washington. "Hetty." Vance clarified for him, "Now get going."

"Yes Sir." Callen said and turned to pick up the sleeping child.

* * *

They all left to deal with their assignments and Vance turned to Kensi and the doctor, "Ms Blye, Doctor Strohl, how is Detective Deeks?" he asked.

The doctor ushered the Director into the observation room where Marty was still sitting where he'd been left looking really uncomfortable but glancing at the door every few seconds. "Excuse me." Kensi said and left.

"He's going through 3 distinct personalities right now, Max Giamatti or Gentry as you have, this is the most violent and uncontrollable. We have Detective Deeks who thinks its 2010 and now the emergence of Marty Brandel, who thinks he is eleven and has just shot his father."

Vance looked through the glass as Kensi entered.

"Marty?" she said as she walked in.

Marty looked up at her and smiled, "Hi." He said shyly. "Are you an Angel?" he asked.

Kensi smiled and shook her head, "No I'm not sweetie, my name is…"

"Fern…I'm gonna call you Fern, my little sister was called Fern and she was as pretty as you are." Marty smiled his lopsided grin, Kensi's heart melted.

"You can call me Fern." She said. "You look uncomfortable, are you ok?"

Marty looked at the floor and gave a small nod.

"No you're not are you, what's wrong, you can tell me." She pushed gently.

"I'm…I'm hungry and I need to use the bathroom, but the big man told me I had to stay here…and I'm under a rest coz I'm a bad kid…I shot my Daddy…It's ok if you don't want to be in here with me, Daddy said I was always gonna be alone." Marty sighed, "And He said ya don't gets food in Jail…but its ok I've been hungry loads a times." He said brightly.

Kensi smiled, "Let's take you to the bathroom and then see if we can find you a candy bar ok?" she said.

Marty smiled, "I like candy." He said.

She nodded towards the mirror and took Marty's hand. "Come on Shaggy."

Marty giggled and followed.

Vance turned to the doctor, "This isn't permanent is it?" he asked.

The doctor shrugged "I don't think so, I would like to ask a colleague of mine to come and asses his mental health, will she need clearance?" he asked.

"I will need her name." Vance said taking out a small notebook from his pocket.

"Cranston, Doctor Rachel Cranston." He said and stopped as Vance picked up his phone and dialed a number.

"Rachel…Leon…I'm with a Doctor Strohl at NCIS, I need you to come down and asses a patient, it's for one of Gibbs' cases…No DiNozzo hasn't finally gone off the deep end." He smiled as he listened to her and then he hung up. "She'll be over in an hour; you should know she's affectionately known around here as Doctor Kate's sister, her younger sister Kate used to be on Gibbs' team." Vance explained.

Kensi waited outside the door as Marty used the men's room, he walked out and looked at her standing there, "Look I washed my hands," he said turning them over to show her how clean they were. She smiled and took him by the hand to the break room, where McGee was standing at the Vending Machine,"Kensi…?" He asked.

"Hi Tim, this is Marty." She said with a look that McGee got. "He's eleven." She added.

Deeks walked up to the vending machine and put his nose to the glass, "Is that real candy?" he asked awed, "How does it get out of there?"

Tim smiled, "You put money in the slot and press the buttons and the candy bar comes out." He explained.

Marty's face fell, "Oh…Ok…Thanks…" he turned to Kensi "I'd better go back now," he said his stomach gurgled at the sight of all that food.

"I thought you were hungry?" Kensi said, "You sound like you're hungry."

"My tummy's just being silly." Marty said sadly, "Besides I don't have any money and I don't wanna steal, I told…I said stealing is wrong."

Tim smiled and produced a candy bar and held it out to him, "Stealing is wrong, but asking for what you want is ok as long as you ask nicely."

Marty shook his head, "You ask and ya don't get." He said repeating a mantra he'd been told time and again.

"But how do people know what you want if you don't ask?" Kensi asked him.

Marty shrugged, "Ya get what ya given and ya grateful fer it."

"I would like to give this to you," Tim said, "but only if it's what you want." He added.

Marty stared at the chocolate bar as if it were made of gold, "A  **whole**  one? A whole candy bar for **me**? Really? Not just the wrapper, I like to lick the wrappers." He admitted.

"No the whole bar." Tim said and jumped as Marty hugged him.

"Thank you Mr. Tim, I've never had a  **whole** candy bar before." He grinned.

He took the candy bar and looked at Kensi, "Fern…Do I have to go back to jail now?" he asked.

Kensi nodded, "It's not really jail, and it's more that you're poorly and need to see a special doctor right now, we are going to make you better."

Marty looked up from his position cross legged on the floor, "Then I get the 'lectric chair?" he asked the two shocked agents standing in front of him.

 


	7. Chapter 7

Callen and Abby pulled up outside the mall and within moments Callen was unbuckling the car seat and held it on his arm as they walked towards the stores.

"So where first?" He asked as they walked inside.

Abby looked at the Mall map, "There." She said pointing to a nearby shop, "That sells most of what we need." She told him.

Callen nodded and looked at Marty, hoisting the bag of baby supplies they already had on his shoulder he turned to her, "Ok Abby Sciuto, you lead the way."

She smiled, "It'll be my pleasure G. Callen…and Mr. Deeks Junior?"

"Ouch…that's a mouthful." Callen said walking along with her,

"Well we have two Marty's and Tony'll kill me if I call him junior…" Abby walked along in silence for a few moments, "He's still small…so what about a nickname for him."

"Abby?" Callen gave her a sidelong glance.

"Deeklet?" she offered. Callen shook his head.

"Marteeny?"

Callen laughed, "That makes him sound like a drink!" he looked over at the baby who was awake and looking at them, "Ain't that right squirt."

Abby rolled her eyes, "Well you can't call him squirt…he doesn't look like a squirt, he looks like a mini Marty."

"Sounds like a five n dime Abbs," Callen said as they opened the door to the store.

A store assistant walked over to them as she spied the baby, "Welcome, Aww he's such a cute baby, a chip off the old block," She said grinning at Callen, "What's his name?"

Callen looked at the boy, "Chip…his name is Chip." He said with a grin.

"Oh he's so small!" the assistant gushed, "How old?"

"Born yesterday, I need to get supplies in for him, could you help me?" He asked.

"Oh My Gosh Yes! and can I say your wife looks lovely for someone who's just had a baby."

Abby grinned and winked at Callen, "Thank you, Chip was a bit of a shock, we weren't expecting him, and so we need everything,"

The assistant called some help and they walked around the store listening to the assistant's advice on what Chip needed.

* * *

Two hours, a feed, diaper change and hundreds of dollars later, they finally left the store, all their purchases were in the back of Gibbs' truck.

"You handled that really well  _ **Mrs.**_  Callen." Callen laughed.

"And I looked good!" Abby grinned, giving a quite laugh as she looked at Chip and he yawned. "Aww, he is such a sweetie." She said.

Callen sighed as they turned into Gibbs' street, "Yeah he is, and I hope his father realizes that," he said.

They parked up and Abby took 'chip' into the house, Gibbs had already got there and helped Callen in with the baby stuff.

"So you nicknamed him Chip?" Gibbs asked warily, "How did Abby take it?" he asked.

Callen shrugged "Fine… why?" he replied.

"You remember that crazy assistant of Abby's?"

Callen leant against the truck, "Er…chuck? Charles Sterling?"

"Chip…yeah."

"Crap!" Callen cursed, "She seemed ok with the name, we couldn't keep calling him Marty, it's too confusing…"

"Talk it out with her!" Gibbs called out carrying a flat packed crib up the path.

Callen grabbed two large bags of supplies, "Damn!" he swore running up the path behind Gibbs.

* * *

Marty sat on the floor of the break room looking at the two gob smacked agents.

"Marty, you know you're not going to get the electric chair don't you?" Tim said squatting down to the man who held a chocolate bar in one hand and a tissue Kensi had handed him in the other as he looked at them not making a sound but shaking his head as tears were rolling down his face.

"Miss Fern?" Marty asked after he wiped his face with the tissue and stood up, "Does this mean I have to go back to my momma?" he asked a small shake in his voice.

Kensi didn't know what to say to him, "Maybe, you wanna tell me about her?" she asked as she got him a soda and sat him at one of the tables.

Marty took a drink of the soda, "I like this." He smiled. "Thank you."

"Tell me about your momma?" she asked hoping this time it didn't bring Max back.

"Momma's, momma." Marty shrugged, "She has lots of friends and she's very pretty, Daddy likes it when momma gives him her money, momma's friends give it to her."

Kensi shot Tim a look, "What's your momma's name?" she asked.

Marty took a sip of his drink, "Momma." He said, "Daddy calls her bad names if she doesn't have friends over."

Tim took his tablet and sat next to them, "Was your momma called something else by her friends?" He asked, he hated to push the detective the state he was in, but they needed to find out more about the woman who had been murdered along with their agent.

"Um….Sometimes they called her honey or baby?" Marty said, "Momma wasn't a baby though…Grandma came once…she called her Caroline, but momma shouted at her I didn't see her again." He said sadly, "I liked her she gave me hugs, ya know the nice kind…not the other kind." He shifted uncomfortably.

Marty yawned, "Do I have to go back and see that doctor again?" he asked.

"We do need to get you back there, he's not going to hurt you, but you need to have your medicine." Tim said.

Marty shrugged, "Ok Mr. Tim…" He carefully wrapped his half eaten candy bar up.

"You can finish that first you know?" Kensi said.

"But…" Marty stopped and slowly unwrapped it. He looked at it sadly and Kensi put her hand on his arm.

"What's wrong?" she asked,

Marty shrugged, "Nuttin'…it's just, if I eat this now…I won't have anything for later."

Kensi smiled, "Marty, You'll have dinner later, I think Tim's getting it."

"Really?!" Marty grinned.

"Sure as soon as you've seen the doctor, I'll head down to Beltway Burgers and pick you something up." Tim said.

Marty grabbed Kensi's hand, "Come on Miss Fern…we gotta go…I'm getting  _ **dinner**_!" he grinned excitedly.

* * *

Callen looked at the nursery. Well, the corner of his room that he and Gibbs had turned into a nursery.

After having a chat with Abby, she had told him in no uncertain terms that 'this' Chip was an angel and would not in any way be associated with the negative memories she had with the other 'Chip'. She had held him, fed him and rocked him while Gibbs and Callen set up the furniture needed for the baby and with a small, but gentle flourish she lay the infant in his new crib. He yawned and put a tiny thumb in his mouth. All three adults smiled.

"Deeks does that too." Callen said quietly.

Gibbs chuckled as Callen ushered them out so that Chip could sleep. He turned on the baby monitor and followed them downstairs.

Gibbs got Callen a beer, but he turned it down and grabbed a bottle of water instead, Abby and Gibbs joined him at the table as he listened to the baby monitor.

"You sure you wanna do this G?" Gibbs asked.

"Dad, I'm not leaving him in the system, I'm team leader, and Deeks is on my team. I know him…He's going to want his son at some point, I can and I will do this."

"What if you get too attached?" Abby asked, she was in her opinion already too attached to the baby, but he was so cute.

"Won't be the first time I've gotten attached and had to let go, I've survived before I'll do it again." Callen said matter of factly.

Gibbs shot Callen a look, which Callen ignored.

"I'll either be Dad or Uncle Callen, I can live with either." Callen said. "Either way this kid is getting stability and a family." He said a bit more forcefully than he intended.

Gibbs put a plate of sandwiches in front of them all, "I know you want what's best for this kid, and we'll help you all the way."He said, he saw the way Callen looked at the baby and just didn't want his foster son hurt.

* * *

"Did you tell Diane?" Callen asked. He had never really gotten along with his foster mother, but he still kept in touch, more out of duty seeing as he still saw Gibbs, than anything else.

"Tobias called her, Emily asked if she can come and see him tomorrow." Neither of them realized that Abby was still sitting at the table.

"Diane? Diane was your foster mother?!" She exclaimed.

Callen shrugged, "For a month, then she left." He took a gulp of his water.

"It wasn't your fault." Gibbs said, an age old argument opened again, "She liked you, it was me she didn't get on with."

Callen shrugged, "You think she'd wanna see the baby?" he asked,

Gibbs looked at his bottle and then the clock, "They're coming at seven. Did you know she was seeing Tobias again?" he said.

Callen laughed, "NO!" he choked on his water, "Really! Emily must be fuming!"

"I had her hiding in the closet; it reminded me of when you used to hide in there from her." Gibbs smiled, "now the team will be here at six for dinner, so Abbs, you up for your three bean casserole, I'm gonna do steaks, and Callen, get some sleep, you have night feeds."

"Gibbs, I don't sleep." Callen protested. There was a noise from the monitor and Callen dropped his sandwich onto the plate, grabbed Chip's bottle and headed upstairs forgetting the baby monitor.

Gibbs and Abby sat listening as Callen walked into the room.

"Hey buddy, you hungry," there was a noise as Callen lifted the baby from his crib.

Callen sat on the bed, putting the infant in his arm and gently rubbing the nipple against the child's face, "There you go champ." He said as 'Chip' started suckling.

He found himself yawning as little Marty drank his milk up and Callen burped him and then changed him, he leant back against the pillows as Marty fell asleep again.

"Don't worry kid, I'll keep you safe, I'll be just as good a dad to you as Gibbs was to me. When your daddy is better then I'll be the best uncle in the world, I promise you'll have the childhood me and your dad should have got." He yawned as he rubbed the infant's back. "You just sleep now, Uncle G has is all in hand, you're safe and sound."

He yawned again and in the kitchen two very emotional federal employees gave a small laugh as Callen let out a snore.

 


	8. Chapter 8

Deeks woke on the gurney in the small room again, Dr. Strohl, was checking his vitals, "Hey doc?" Deeks said…"Not a dream?" he asked he had hoped that the nightmare he seemed to be in was actually a dream and that he'd just eaten something funky the night before.

"No...Marty." The Doctor said.

"Deeks is fine." Deeks replied, "So I killed someone?…I remember killing someone."

Sam sat in the corner of the room, "You killed and NCIS Agent." Sam said his face grim.

Deeks sat up and looked around his monitor going crazy, "Where's Kensi? I didn't…God, Sam, I didn't kill Kensi did I?" he looked totally distraught.

"No…No Deeks not Kensi, not Callen either," he added as he saw Deeks thinking along those lines.

"Where is Callen?" Deeks asked noticing he wasn't there.

"He's at home, well, Agent Gibbs' home with your son they are coming in later."

"My?! I…I don't have a son?" Deeks said although he was uncertain about that statement.

Sam pulled a picture out Bishop had taken of Callen holding the small blond headed baby with bright blue eyes. "Marty Giamatti." He said

"Gia…Sara…Sara's his mother?" he asked surprised, "Little Sara?"

"You remember?" Sam asked.

"I had an assignment to infiltrate the Giamatti family, get close to the head of the family. Marc Giamatti. I did early 2010 met his little sister Sarah at Christmas party." Deeks gave a small smile. "Max was supposed to get in with the family, and it turned out Sara likes bad boys."

"Nice, so do you remember coming to D.C. 3 years ago." Sam asked.

Deeks shook his head, "That was like, six months ago in Los Angeles, not D.C.…Three years? Really? What happened?"

"You were hurt, you've mentioned a few names, Caroline…Mary…" Deeks rubbed his head as Sam said those names.

"No…Sam…." He let out a sob, he wanted to disappear into himself he could feel it coming, but something was stopping it.

"You're on a new medication." The doctor said walking over to him and checking his vitals… "This may sound like a stupid question but can you tell me your name?"

"Deeks, Marty Deeks. Doc…it hurts." He said gesturing to his head. "I can…feel something…I…" Deeks sat back with a sigh.

"We have a doctor coming in to see you, Dr. Cranston. Hopefully she can help with that."

"Deeks." Sam said, "I'm sorry, but we need to know, Caroline…Mary?"

"My mother…My mother's name is…was Caroline…when she…'worked' she was called Mary." Deeks said sadly. "She shouldn't have been there…I told her, not the docks…Never the docks…too dangerous."

"Why was your mother there?"

Deeks shrugged "A new ship, Naval one I think pulled in,"

"What did your mother do, was she a cook?" Sam asked.

Deeks turned away, "No…Look she's dead does it matter?" he said ashamed.

"We need to know why she was killed, why she was there." Sam said gently.

"She was a hooker, alright!" Deeks snapped, "That what you wanna know, yeah! My mother is a…was a whore…has been my whole life, it was the one thing Hetty knew but didn't put in my file." He couldn't look at Sam as a tear escaped.

"I'm sorry?" Sam said, "We needed to know."

"Why?" Deeks asked looking broken, "You tell me its 2013 so, how can my mother's murder have any impact now?"

The door opened and a tall, dark haired woman walked in, "Because Detective Deeks, it says a lot to your state of mind back then." She put her bag next to Sam and took a seat next to the gurney.

"Rachel Cranston." She said and turned to Sam. "Director Vance has agreed that I can talk to Detective Deeks alone." She said.

Sam stood up. "You want this?" he said handing a picture to Deeks.

Deeks looks at it, "It's…he's really mine?" Deeks asked looking at the picture.

Sam nodded, "Yeah."

He stood up and went to leave, "He's…he's not in care is he?" Deeks asked worried.

"Callen's looking after him, he's safe."

Deeks sighed and turned away, "He'll be better off with Callen."

Sam looked at Rachel and left.

* * *

"Detec…."

"No…no…not anymore, Deeks, just call me Deeks," Deeks said looking at the wall avoiding looking at the mirror in the wall. The last thing he wanted to see was his face, to see the shell of the man he had become.

"Deeks, how are you feeling?" Rachel asked.

"I dunno doc, it's like a nightmare, one moment I'm working in a job I love, the next thing I know I'm wearing a ring I don't remember putting on, I have a son, I don't remember fathering and apparently I killed someone, not in the line of Duty, not like a cop, I'm a cold blooded killer." Deeks said sadly.

"You don't know that for a fact," Rachel said trying to calm him down.

"Yes…Yes I do I remember killing someone…a kid…the Agent must have been new. He was just a kid…I know I felt like I was in danger, no…my family…Max's...Family….I...I..." Deeks leant forward and grabbed his head.

"Deeks…?"

"Back off bitch!" Max snapped.

"You are?" Rachel asked without missing a beat.

"Leaving as soon as possible." Max snarled. "Where's my boy?" he asked.

"Your son is with an agent, he is a friend and he is safe."

"You have no right to do this!" Max snapped.

"You killed a man; the agents have the right to hold you." Rachel said.

"Gio was a little shit; he was selling out the family. He deserved all he got." Max snapped.

"What about the Agent in Los Angeles?" Rachel asked

"What Agent? I ain't killed no agent? Never gonna kill a cop…" Max looked at her, "Is  _ **this**_  why you've ruined my family, my wife is missing, my son is with strangers and I'm stuck in here!" Max smashed his hands on the mirror. He turned and Rachel stepped back as Gibbs and Callen came in the room.

"SIT DOWN!" Gibbs snarled.

Max stood toe to toe with Gibbs, "You don't frighten me old man, I want out, I didn't kill no fed." He snapped.

"No but you just admitted to the murder of Gio Martinez."

"He was a punk and deserved to die, he put my family in danger," Max snarled.

"Max…can we talk to Deeks?" Rachel asked calmly, putting her hand on Gibbs shoulder and he stepped back.

"Deeks is a wimp. He doesn't want to be here, He can't even cope with being a father," Max laughed derisively. "He's afraid he's gonna be just like his father."

"So you acknowledge that the baby is Deeks' child." Rachel said.

"No…He is a Giamatti, he'll live with me and I'll raise him right, He'll take over Marc's place as the head of the family." Max grinned.

Callen balled his fists. "No he won't, either Deeks takes him and raises him right or he's staying with me."

"He ain't your kid, you can't take him." Max snarled, "You can't have him, it's kidnapping."

"Protective custody," Gibbs snapped. "We are protecting him from you."

"ME!" Max snarled, "You don't need to protect my son from me! I wanna see him!" he demanded,

"Look at the mirror," Gibbs said.

Max turned and looked as the light went on in observation and Bishop stood there holding the baby in his carrier. Max stepped forward and placed his hand on the glass, "He's…he's….No…not now!" he said to himself as Deeks pushed his way to the front of his mind and pushed Max back.

* * *

Deeks turned to Callen, and even he could see the difference in his features.

"Is that him Callen?" Deeks asked, he slightly remembered seeing a baby before, but this was his son.

Callen moved and put his hand gently on Deeks' shoulder, "Yeah, Marty Deeks junior." Callen said.

"No…No…" Deeks shook his head, "I can't be his father I killed a man Callen, I'm gonna go down, I have to…he can't ever know me, please…you said, you'd look after him, Ask Hetty can you adopt him…He can't have me as a father." Deeks said never taking his eyes off the child.

"Do you want to hold him?" Rachel asked.

Gibbs and Callen looked on alarmed. Rachel mouthed, 'it's ok'.

Gibbs nodded and Bishop brought the child into the room.

Callen lifted him out of the carrier and passed him to Deeks. "Here…" he said as he placed the baby in his friend's arms.

"I…I…Can't…I don't want to…" Deeks stopped as Marty moved recognizing his father's voice. Deeks stroked down the side of his cheek.

"Hey…" He said softly a hint of the old Deeks grin showing through.

"He needs a new name, not this one…not one that Max gave him, not one my father gave me, you should name him." He said to Callen.

"He's your son." Callen said stepping back.

Deeks shook his head, "I can't be his father, look he needs someone who'll be there for him, if you can't take him, maybe Sam will, he's a father already, he can be better than me. He is a better man than me, I'm broken Callen, I know this, and you know this. He needs someone who will be there for him, not someone who will see him twice a month in a jail cell. He needs love; he needs to not be in the system." Deeks placed the baby back in Callen's arms, sensing the familiar smell of the man who had thus far looked after him the baby relaxed and closed his eyes.

"You have the papers don't you." Deeks sighed looking at Callen.

Callen nodded, "I do, Hetty gave me two sets one makes me his guardian until your well enough to take him and the other allows me to adopt him."

Callen put both on the table and turned to the baby as he mewled.

"Shhh." Callen said softly, stroking his cheek.

* * *

Deeks let a tear slide and picked up a pen while everyone's attention was on the child, he wiped it before they saw and looked over the papers. He signed one set and handed them to Callen, "He's your son now, these are the adoption papers, he's now a Callen, and he just needs a new name."

"Nope." Callen said, "Marty is just fine."

"I mean it Callen; please don't give him my luck. Don't call him that name." Deeks begged.

"So what would you call him?" Callen asked.

"Jake." Marty admitted, "I would have called him Jake."

"Jake Callen it is then." Callen said turning to the kid, "Hey Jake…you like that?" he asked. He smiled as Jake yawned.

Deeks turned to Gibbs, "I remember Max…Me shooting Martinez, I should go down for that but I didn't shoot the cop."

"Agent and we have you on tape doing it." Gibbs said as Callen and Rachel left Deeks' eyes followed Jake out the door before closing in defeat.

"I didn't shoot him, but what the hell…Charge me anyway, I'm done Agent Gibbs…its over." Deeks said and sat with his head on the desk.

 


	9. Chapter 9

Gibbs stepped outside with the others leaving Deeks with his head down on the desk in the interrogation room.

"You can't charge him." Rachel said, "He isn't fit to stand trial."

Gibbs nodded; he actually agreed with her, "That's not my only problem." He said looking through the glass as the detective in the other room, "The one thing his two adult personalities agree with is the fact that they didn't shoot Agent Dickenson. I'm thinking there was another shooter that night," Gibbs stated.

Callen nodded, "I think you're right, I can head to MTAC and ask Eric to reanalyze the footage and see what he comes up with." He offered. "I kinda need to talk to Hetty anyway; it'll save me a phone call."

Gibbs nodded and Callen turned to Jake, "Come on squirt, let's go and see grandma." Gibbs grinned as he watched Callen head off with the baby towards the elevator.

"I really think you need to have Mr. Deeks admitted to a psychiatric facility, he needs a set of monitoring and medication." Rachel said to him.

Kensi looked over at Deeks, "Can we move him to Los Angeles, if he has to go into a facility I'd like him near family." She said.

Rachel nodded, "I think we can arrange something, I have to talk to Director Vance about releasing him though."

"I'm not sure the FBI will go for it, he did kill Gio Martinez, we have proof his voice on the tape and his confession."

"All of which he did while under the persona of Max Giamatti, Detective Deeks was not responsible for his actions." Rachel said.

"We need to help him, Agent Gibbs, you need to talk to Agent Fornell and let him know that Deeks cannot be charged for Max's crimes."

In the other room, while the others were unaware that the intercom was on, Max Giamatti smiled.

* * *

As Callen walked through the bullpen with the baby, a few of the staff smiled at him. Jake yawned unimpressed with the attention his adoptive father was getting.

"Agent Callen, I see you did not take my advice and drop young Marty junior off with my nanny this morning." Vance said.

"His name is Jake and no, I needed to try and get Deeks to want to take him back." He said honestly.

"No luck then?" Vance asked.

Callen shook his head, "He signed me all rights over to Jake and insisted I change his name, he didn't want him to have any part of his past."

"Congratulations then, you're a father." Vance said solemnly.

"We added a clause in, if Deeks is ever back to normal, and he is cleared for duty, I will hand Jake back over to him, I don't think he read that bit though." Callen added with a smile, "I'd be quite happy with being the little guys' uncle if he could go back to live with his father, I know that once Deeks comes to his senses he'll realize that Jake needs his real father, until then, I'm stepping up, looking after my team."

Vance nodded, "The Nanny will be here in an hour, if you are still agreeable to her looking after young Jake until you head back to Los Angeles?"

"Thank you sir, right now, if it's ok, I'm taking him to see his grandma." He smirked.

"Grandma?" Vance looked confused.

"Hetty." Callen clarified, Vance smiled and shook his head.

"You might not want to call her that to her face." He said walking back towards his office, "But good luck Agent Callen."

Callen laughed as he walked to MTAC and pressed his eye against the lock and entered the room.

Eric looked up as a high priority message came into OPS from Washington for Hetty.

He looked confused and picked up the phone "Hetty? I've got a call coming in from MTAC in D.C. for you…a Jack Callen?"

Hetty looked confused as she put the phone down and headed upstairs.

"On screen Mr. Beale."

She looked confused for a sec as the face of a tiny baby filled the screen, "Hi Grandma!" Callen said with a grin.

"Mr. Callen…and… ?" she paused waiting for his response, "Jake Callen, my son…at least until Deeks changes his mind." He grinned.

"Congratulations Mr. Callen, how is Mr. Deeks doing?" she asked.

Callen shook his head, "He's still crazy, he's been working with Rachel Cranston, Vance recommended her," he said.

"She's a good doctor," Hetty agreed, "Go on…"

"Well she says that Deeks should be sent to a psychiatric facility over there in Los Angeles. He has a fractured personality and he isn't fit to be charged with anything right now. However, Hetty, the one thing all two grown up personalities have in common is the fact that they both deny shooting Agent Dickenson, although the Max Giamatti personality admits to killing Gio Martinez."

"I see, and if they both deny it, there is a chance that he didn't?" Hetty said.

"I need Eric to pull as many files as he can, everything on that original night, I need to see who pulled the trigger, if it is Deeks then he needs to know, if it was someone else then we need to find them."

"On it." Eric said and turned back to his desktop.

"Hetty, I need a favor…" Callen asked.

* * *

Max sat in the interrogation room, he could feel Deeks pounding at his head trying to get back to the forefront of his mind.

He stifled a laugh as he could hear Deeks screaming for attention. His was the strongest personality the child's was the weakest and this new medication that the doc had given him had allowed the dominant personality to take hold. The doctor had wrongly assumed that it was Deeks' personality. A fact that Max was intending to play on, if they thought he was Deeks then he'd be able to escape quicker, find his woman and his son, and maybe…just maybe kill them all for the hell of it…especially that brunette Deeks seemed to care about.

'NOOOO!' Deeks' psyche screamed in his head. 'You don't belong, it's my body, back down Max' he screamed.

The mental version of Max turned to his image of Deeks locked up in a jail cell in his mind.

'You can't have my life, I've been in here too long, Max, and you're a persona not real.' Deeks argued.

'Not real! I was real enough to father a child.' Max argued back.

'He's my child!' Deeks snapped back although he knew that was not strictly true.

'You gave him away to that cop!' Max shouted back.

'Callen's my friend he'll look after Jake.' Deeks said.

'His name is Martino.' Max snarled at Deeks.

Deeks smiled and Max moved as if to hit him, 'See, you couldn't shake me completely, I'm always on the fringes…you named our son after me…I'm always going to be on the edge of you…you won't get away with this.'

Now it was Max's turn to smile menacingly, 'if I can convince them I'm you, I'll be free, I just do your job for a while, convince them I'm healed and then when they let their guard down I will strike. You will be able to do nothing but watch as I kill them all, find my Sara and my son and we live happily together in Mexico, Marc will be pleased as I groom our son to be the head of the Giamatti empire.'

Deeks grabbed the bars of his 'cell' and shook…'MAX! MAX!' he screamed as Max laughed and walked away.

Max looked up lifting his head from his hands as Kensi walked into the room.

"You ok Deeks?" she asked.

Max nodded his head, "Yeah, I have a headache, but this medicine seems to be working fine." He said.

"Rachel will be back in a moment, do you want something to drink?" she asked.

"Er…yeah…" his brain wondered for a second what would Deeks want to drink? Max himself would have loved a whisky but he knew here that would be wrong. "Coffee?" he asked and relaxed a bit as Kensi nodded and left.

Max sat there planning, Rachel had said about him going to a secure facility, if she could convince the feds to do that it shouldn't be too hard to escape enroute and find Sara and Marty.

Rachel walked in the room, "Well Marty, you'll be pleased to know that you have been freed by the FBI for now, pending a psychiatric evaluation, and we have arranged to have you sent out to Los Angeles to a facility, it's very nice Hetty recommended it."

Max nodded, Hetty that interfering old bat again, "That's good, and I think it will do me good to get back home." He did admit that he would need to be closer to wherever that Callen guy took his son, and hopefully, Sara had gone back to her brother.

Rachel nodded, "I will be accompanying you on your journey, but I wanted to get some background on you for your file." She said opening a folder.

Max nodded, this shouldn't be too hard, I mean Deeks was a cop and had been a lawyer so…money probably.

"Go ahead."

"Tell me about your upbringing?" Rachel asked.

"Normal I suppose, Mother, father…house near the beach…went to school and college…I was a lawyer for a while…then a cop."

Kensi walked into the observation room and watched as the two talked.

"Tell me about your parents…?" Rachel asked.

Max shrugged, "My mom was great she cooked a lot, kept the home, Dad went out to work…not sure what he did I was small. They were great made sure I had everything I needed…."

He stopped for a second at the look crossing Rachel's face.

"Shit!" he swore, "Deeks lied to me didn't he…" he smiled malevolently.

"You're not Deeks are you?" Rachel asked.

Max sighed and leaned back, crossing his arms behind his head. "Nope…Sorry darlin' Deeks don't live here anymore, and you just ruined my plans." He snarled and reached across and grabbed her by the throat.

 


	10. Chapter 10

Max took the knife he'd taken when Marty was in the break room and held it to Rachel's throat.

"You're getting me out of here, right now, I want my son and I'm going to get a free ride out of here." He snarled.

"Max, you won't get away with this you are in a federal building, you won't even make it out of the door." Rachel warned him, "You need to give yourself up; you won't be able to look after Jake if you're dead."

"MARTINO!" Max shouted pulling her closer to him, "His name is Martino…I wanna see him now." He moved towards the door, and nudged Rachel so she'd open it.

She did so with her eyes closed praying that someone in the other room had alerted Gibbs and his team.

The door opened and Max stood there face to face with Gibbs, DiNozzo, Bishop and McGee all pointing their guns at him.

"Give it up Giamatti, you're not getting away. Let Dr. Cranston go." Gibbs said.

Max laughed, "You really think I'm that stupid? I let her go and you shoot me…or would you…remember your agent is in here too, or was Deeks right, he'd just a cop…would you shoot him?" Max taunted.

"Not a member of my team." Gibbs snarled back, "You need to see your son, what means more to you Giamatti?"

"I want my boy!" Max yelled, Rachel wincing as Max pulled on her hair.

Abby and Callen came up the hallway, Callen guarding Jake and protecting Abby at the same time.

"Deeks?" Callen raised his gun at his friend.

"I want my boy Callen, and I want out of here, I don't care who I kill to do it, you stole my son."

"You gave him to me; you wanted me to adopt him." Callen said, "Let the doctor go."

Max moved the knife and Rachel screamed as a single shot rang out.

* * *

Callen looked shocked as Gibbs' gun still smoking was handed to McGee, "Box that, DiNozzo find that doctor, Bishop, take notes." Gibbs ordered as Rachel turned and checked on Deeks.

"He's alive, but you shot him in the neck?" She said, holding her hand over a wound that was rapidly bleeding.

Dr. Strohl came running up the corridor, "What happened?" He asked.

"I shot him." Gibbs said as the doctor started patching up his wound.

Max lay on the floor; he was unconscious not just because of his wound, which was still leaking badly but also because he hit his head on the way down.

The paramedics arrived and took him off to the hospital, "As soon as he's stable we need to have him transferred to a secure facility." Rachel said.

"Should be jail…" DiNozzo snapped. Gibbs put his hand on his shoulder.

"Calm down Tony." Gibbs said.

"He nearly killed Rachel!" DiNozzo snapped.

"Max nearly killed Rachel Tony, but Deeks is still in there." Callen said watching as the paramedics took him away.

"You think this Deeks is really worth saving?" Tony asked.

Callen looked at the man he considered a brother, "Tony, Deeks is as much a member of my family as you are, and I've never had any problems saving your skinny butt!" he grinned.

Tony looked behind him, "You really think its skinny?" he asked.

Callen laughed knowing that Tony was just trying to diffuse the tension. He turned back to Abby who had taken Jake into a side room as the gunshot went off.

He was crying and Abby was making soft shushing sounds.

"Hey little man?" Callen said as he took his son from Abby's arms, "Its ok, G's here."

Abby looked at him, "You're his father now Callen, Deeks signed the papers."

"There's still a chance Deeks will get better and want Jake back." Callen said.

"I don't know Callen, he was pretty out of it, you need to focus on Jake now, he's your family." Abby said to him.

Callen turned abruptly, "Deeks is my family too, and I want him back and healthy and with his son." He snapped and walked out of the room leaving Abby aghast.

Callen walked holding Jake down the hallway, "Gibbs, I'm taking my team back to Los Angeles, Jake needs to get settled and Deeks needs to be transferred down there as soon as they can move him." He told him.

"Calm down son." Gibbs said putting a hand on Callen's shoulder and stroking Jake's head. "Let's see how Deeks is in the hospital first, and then we'll see about transferring him." He said.

Callen nodded and placed Jake in the car seat, "He's coming too." He said.

Gibbs rolled his eyes at the stubbornness of his boy and nodded, "Tony, go with him, I'll deal with IA and meet you at the hospital.

* * *

Callen and Tony stepped off the elevator and onto the floor; they were told Marty was on and they headed to the nurses desk.

A doctor stepped out of the room and noticed their guns, "Are you here for Marty Deeks?" he asked cutting them off.

"Yeah, I'm Callen his team leader. How is he?" he asked.

The doctor looked at him sadly, "I'm Dr. Salitari, I'm sorry Mr. Callen, I'm afraid Mr. Deeks' carotid artery was nicked and he didn't make it."

Callen took a step back and looked at the doctor, "What? Deeks…No? He can't be?"

"We have contacted his next of kin and his body is being shipped back to Los Angeles as we speak."

Callen nodded blindly and turned carrying Jake and left the building.

DiNozzo caught up with him, "G?"

"He's dead Tony, Deeks' is dead…" he looked down at Jake, "He's gonna grow up knowing that I couldn't save his dad."

Callen sat on the bench, "Kensi is gonna take it hard, she did when he disappeared."

* * *

Inside the hospital, the 'doctor' took his lab coat off, threw it in a trash can and walked up to the nurses' station.

"Hi, my names Callen, I've come to see how Marty Deeks is doing."

The nurse looked up, "Hello, yes your on the list, Mr. Deeks has come through well and he should be ready to be released in an hour. You can see him if you like?" she said affably.

The man smiled, "Thank you…I'd like that then I can tell the team he's ok."

The nurse showed him to the room and the man opened the door.

Deeks was lying on the bed a large gauze pad taped to his neck, the nurse left and he opened his eyes, "Marc?" he said looking at his brother in law.

Marc Giamatti smiled, "Hey Max, I'm springing you out of here." He said with a smile.

"Good!" Max said and turned to Marc, "How did they let you in? The cops'll be back soon, you don't want to be caught here."

"Don't worry I've dealt with that, I ran into that Agent Callen, he thinks you're dead, rest up brother, get yourself healthy and we will head back to Los Angeles and we will get your son back." Marc told him.

"Thank you." Max said and sighed, "There's no way I want that man bringing up your nephew." He said as he closed his eyes.

"Me neither…" Marc smiled as Max fell asleep, "I don't want you to either." He added when Max was asleep.

Marc picked up the phone, "Sara, I've got him…No, the feds think he's dead, I can't get your boy yet but I am working on it, pack a bag, I'll have him on a plane to Los Angeles tomorrow."

* * *

Callen walked into the bullpen, Kensi and Sam were talking to McGee as Callen put the baby carrier on Bishops desk.

"Hey how's Deeks?" Kensi asked.

Callen looked at her, then saw Gibbs, and walked out of the bullpen.

Gibbs nodded towards the elevator and Callen gave a nod and walked in there.

He hit the emergency switch, "What's wrong Callen?" he asked.

"Deeks is dead." Callen said and leant against the wall.

"What?" Gibbs knew he hadn't injured him that badly.

"We saw a doctor, the bullet nicked his artery and he bled out during surgery."

"I'm sorry." Gibbs said.

Callen turned to the man he felt of as a father, "I can't do it, I can't tell Kensi that she's lost another partner."

Gibbs looked at him, "Don't I'll deal with that, you go inform Vance and then go deal with your son."

Callen looked stunned, "He is mine now isn't he? I hoped that Deeks would want his son back and that he would come back to L.A. with us."

Gibbs nodded, "Just bring him up in such a way that Deeks would have been proud of him."

Callen nodded as Gibbs hit the switch and the door opened. "We'll head back tonight." He said as he exited the elevator and walked past his team heading up the stairs to Vance's office.

Gibbs walked over to them all and stroked Jake's head.

Kensi looked over at him, "Gibbs? Where's Callen going?"

"Kensi, I'm sorry….Deeks…" He stopped as she shook her head and ran out of the bullpen and right into Callen who had turned back.

"Kensi," He grabbed her and held her tight as she sobbed into his shoulder.

"I…I can't believe it, not again." She sobbed.

"Hey Kensi, it's gonna be ok." Callen said rubbing her back.

Kensi knew his words were meaningless, she knew that Deeks wouldn't want her to lose it over him, but he was her partner and she was damn well sure she wasn't going to just let his death go.

She turned and looked at Gibbs, "I hope you're proud of yourself, you're going to have to look that little boy in the eye one day and tell him you killed his daddy." She snapped.

Sam stepped in and turned Kensi away from Gibbs, "We'll go G, we'll meet you at the airport." He said.

Callen looked from Gibbs to Tony. "We have to head back, you tell Vance, I'm going to head home and grab Jake's stuff and head back to LA. I'll keep in touch." He said as he gave Gibbs a hug.

* * *

He left and Gibbs headed up to Vance as Abby walked in.

"Hey guys! Where Callen and the little man?" She asked.

McGee looked sad he hated having to do this, "They've left to go back to LA." He said.

"What? Why? They never said goodbye, and after I had news too!" she looked pouty but listened as McGee told her what had just happened in the bullpen.

Gibbs and Vance walked down the stairs Gibbs shooting glances at Abby who didn't look half as upset as he expected her to be instead she looked downright mad.

"But he isn't!" Abby said looking at McGee as if he was crazy.

"Callen just told us," McGee said.

"He's telling the truth Abbs, I was there!" Tony said gently grasping her arm she shook it off and looked at Gibbs.

"He's not dead Gibbs!" she said.

"I'm sorry Abbs, but it was confirmed." Gibbs said trying to stop her going into hysterics.

"No….Gibbs, you're not listening to me! I'm not hysterical, I'm not in denial, I'm telling you he's not dead! I saw him half an hour ago leaving the hospital as I went to visit a friend. He was with this guy!" she took out her phone and showed Gibbs the picture of Max and Marc Giamatti leaving the hospital. "I was worried because I thought he was still in custody, but this agent seemed to be letting him walk?"

"That's not an agent." Leon said.

"No that's his doctor." Tony replied looking at the picture.

"No! That is Marc Giamatti; he's on the FBI's most wanted list." Leon said to a shocked room.

 


	11. Chapter 11

Callen looked over the transformation that had come over his home while he'd been away.

"Eric, do I have you and Nell to thank for this?" he asked over the phone as he looked around the room holding a sleeping Jake in his arms.

"Yep." Eric said with a laugh popping the p in the word, "Nell figured you'd need some stuff for the baby when you got back."

Callen smiled and lay Jake in his crib. "Thanks guys, we'll be in tomorrow, tell Hetty I just need to get some sleep and some formula and things for Jake and I'll be in."

"Formula and everything else is in your kitchen, Hetty organized everything." Eric said.

"Ok Eric, I'm gonna get some rest I'll see you tomorrow." Callen said.

He put the phone down and grabbed the box that said baby monitor, looked through the instructions and set it up. Taking the part that roamed with him into the living room he opened the fridge, reached in for a beer and changed his mind as he grabbed a bottle of water and went and sat in the chair.

There was no way he was going to drink now he had Jake to consider, he wouldn't be like his foster parents growing up, he would be better than them, Jake deserved so much better. The poor kid had already lost both his parents and Callen was determined not to let the boy…no his son, he had to think of him as his son now, not have the same childhood he did.

He sat in the chair and took a deep breath; he had to rethink his whole life now. Now he was home it seemed more real. Jake needed a daycare placement, or someone who could be a live-in nanny, someone he could trust. Hopefully Hetty would help him with that. He looked around at his home. Jake's room had furniture in it, but the rest of the house was still bare, he needed to get things, Jake couldn't grow up like this, he needed toys and rugs for the floor in case he fell, ok maybe not right now but in the future.

He imagined a small blond haired boy learning to walk in the lounge and Callen helping him take his first steps, his first day at school, his first girlfriend. "Wow!" Callen said aloud.

"Overwhelming isn't it." Hetty said stepping out from the kitchen alcove.

Callen smiled, "That's the second time you've managed to get into my home without me hearing you."

"I have a key Mr. Callen, you never picked it up from the realtor." She told him, he nodded remembering he had only ever used the hide-a-key that Mama Rostoff had left in the plant pot by the front door.

"Good you should keep that." Callen decided.

"Where is young…?"

"Jake…Jake Callen." Callen supplied for her.

"So you did adopt him." She said.

Callen nodded, "It was filed…Just before Deeks died." He told her, "I won't let Jake forget his dad, but I won't let him be raised in the system either."

Hetty nodded, Callen stood up so she could sit down and she graciously took the chair. "You are determined to do this aren't you?" she asked.

Callen nodded, "I know he's not my biological son, but Hetty, I…I love him, I just want to do the right thing,"

"Even if that means giving him up?" she asked.

Callen looked stricken, "No…No I can't I promised Deeks, Hetty you can't ask me that I know what it's like growing up out there in the cold, I'd rather quit my job and look after him full time, than do that."

Hetty smiled, "I hoped you would say something like that."

Callen looked at her, "You won't take him?" he said.

She smiled, "Your protection instincts with your son are right on the money, Social services had a worry when they heard you were adopting, they wondered with your lack of family if you would have the right instincts to raise a child, but I will tell them that you do."

"Help me." Callen said baring his soul to Hetty, "Help me so I can do this for Jake." He begged.

Hetty smiled, "I think we need to make a list." She said getting out a pad and pen.

* * *

Max walked up to the door of the large house that he and Marc had stopped at.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"This is as safe house, Sara's inside, she's been waiting for you." He said.

Max opened the door as Sara ran down the stairs and jumped into his arms, "Max….Oh my God, Max! I missed you so much…" she sobbed, "They took our baby, I couldn't stop them, I'm so sorry."

Max wrapped his arms around her, "Don't worry, I have an idea where they are and we won't stop till Martino is back with us." He said kissing her head.

"Where are they?" Sara asked.

Marc walked up behind Max, "They are in Los Angeles, we are going to pack up our business here and move the whole operation to Los Angeles. It will take a while, but we will get your son back." Marc promised.

"How long?" Sara asked.

"About a year, it is a time consuming task little sister, but Martino, Max and you are family, and when we get him back we will have to have a place where he will be safe." Marc told her.

Sara's face dropped at the thought of waiting a year before she saw her son again, but Max seemed to be in agreement, "It will take a while Sara, but when we get him back he'll have a whole empire to inherit, and we will make the Feds rue the day they tried to split our family. Family is everything and we will fight as a family to restore it." Max said his face stoic.

Sara held on tight sobbing as Max steered her into the other room, "We know our son will be safe, but he won't remember any of this when we get him back, he'll grow up and become the man he is meant to be." He promised as he held his wife.

He shook his head for a moment as he felt Deeks pounding to get out but there was no way he would let that little wimp get the best of him, Deeks had had his moment and he'd signed his boy away. Max was furious at Deeks for doing that, after all Martino was Max's son not Deeks', he vowed there and then that he would get his boy back and kill anyone who was in his way.

* * *

Gibbs stood stunned for a moment at the news that Abby had revealed, "Get a BOLO out on them both," he said and grabbed his phone as Tony, Tim and Ellie moved to obey.

"Callen, it's Gibbs." He said as the call connected, "Are you ok?"

Gibbs listened as Callen told him he was fine and that Hetty was with him.

"Good I need to talk to her." Gibbs waited while Callen handed the phone over and went to check on Jake.

"Is G gone?" Gibbs asked as he moved to the hallway for more privacy. "Good, Hetty we have a problem, Deeks isn't dead, Abby saw him leaving the hospital with Marc Giamatti, we have a BOLO out for them, but right now they are at large."

He waited as Hetty talked on the other end.

"I agree, with all that Callen and the team are facing right now, we need to keep them in the dark, I take it they will have a memorial for Deeks?" he asked.

He nodded his head, "Good, if anyone is watching it should lull them into a false sense of security and hopefully it'll get Deeks out in the open. I'm not sure he is Deeks anymore Hetty, and if he's Max, then he's dangerous. You need to make sure Jake and G are protected, I don't want my boy hurt Hetty." Gibbs growled.

He waited as Hetty gave him assurances that she would protect them and then he hung up and walked back into the bullpen.

* * *

A month passed, Callen and the team hadn't been told about Deeks' escape and Jake had been given a nanny that Hetty had appointed, unknown to Callen the Nanny was a CIA operative who was hired to protect them both.

The team stood in the bullpen, Callen was holding Jake who was wearing a small suit. Tori, the nanny was standing close by. None of them were getting any work done today, today was Deeks' memorial service.

Even Regan, who had been vocal about Deeks' retrieval kept his distance from the team. Callen hoped that it would only be a matter of time before he was transferred somewhere like Siberia. Jake cried a bit and shifted in Callen's arms.

"I'll take him, he's probably hungry." Tori said as Callen passed her over.

"Thanks." G said with a small smile.

He turned to the team, "You good guys?" he asked.

Sam gave a curt nod, Kensi sniffed and teared up, but nodded as Nell came and stood next to her, Even Eric was wearing pants for the service, Sam couldn't resist but smile at that.

"Are we ready?" Hetty asked.

They nodded and went outside to a fleet of limousines, Callen took Jake and strapped him into his car seat and fitted it to the car himself sitting next to his son, and Tori sat nearby so she could grab Jake in an emergency. Kensi, Sam were in this car with them. Hetty, Nell and Eric were in the one behind, having a different conversation to the car in front.

"Are the surveillance camera's fitted Mr. Beale?" Hetty asked the only two of the group apart from her who knew that Deeks wasn't dead.

Eric nodded, "I have them in the church and placed around the grounds, we did it a week ago it's on the church records as a security upgrade." He told her.

"We have FBI and a few CIA agents as mourners and grounds people all keeping an eye out to see if Deeks makes an appearance at his funeral." Nell said. "Maybe we should have told the team."

Hetty shook her head, "If Mr. Deeks or any of the Giamatti family are watching we need it to be as real as possible." She said.

They stopped talking as the cars came to a halt outside the small church that was hosting the funeral.

* * *

Max paced up and down the room in the hotel Marc had booked for them, "It's our best chance, we know where Jake will be, we can't let them keep him any longer."

Marc looked at his brother in law and sister who were sitting on the couch in their suite.

"Not at the service, they are agents; the place will be crawling with Feds, and cops." He reasoned with them.

"I WANT MY SON!" Max shouted.

Marc stood up and handed Max one of his pills, "Take this, you'll feel better…We will get Martino back, soon, but if you want to keep him then we have to find out when he is most venerable, now we know where they will be, I will be putting a tail on them, we'll find out where Martino is living and find out when it will be easiest to snatch him back, you wouldn't want him killed by a stray bullet now would you?" he asked.

Max shook his head, "no…no…Thanks Marc."

"He's family; you do what you have to for family Max." Marc said, "Now, let's get this planned right." He said taking a tablet out of his bag and filling them in on what he'd planned."

* * *

Callen stood holding Jake at the graveside as the coffin was lowered into the ground.

Jake started crying as he sensed all the emotion around him and Callen patted his back and turned him away from the coffin, he didn't know what babies of his age remembered, but he didn't want him remembering watching his father's coffin being lowered into the ground.

Turning his son's head away he missed seeing the flash of a camera lens as a man outside the grounds took pictures of the graveside service and more importantly the boy for his boss.

 


	12. Chapter 12

 

Six whole months passed, Jake grew and was already trying to feed himself food, making a mess with his spoon as Callen laughed at his son's antics.

Callen had settled into fatherhood well, he had taken Jake to a daycare center that Hetty had recommended and had adjusted his schedule where possible. Even Sam had been impressed with Callen stepping up in the role as father to young Jake.

Gibbs had told Callen privately about Abby's assumption that Deeks was alive, and had shown him the evidence. Callen agreed with Gibbs that Deeks had to be alive, but he did not want to get the whole teams hopes up, opting instead to share his concerns privately with Hetty who had kept a tab on the Giamatti family to see if anything about Max was mentioned. He still held out hope that whatever was going on with Deeks could be remedied and that one day Deeks could end up back in the fold with his real family.

Callen put his coffee cup down and wiped the mashed banana from his son's mouth.

"Hey there champ, you nearly ready for the day?" he asked.

"Da…Da…" Jake replied, using the new and only word in his arsenal, he had learned it a few days ago and Callen was looking forward to the others hearing his son talk.

Callen lifted him and sniffed, "Ok Mr. … A new diaper before we leave; well, you don't want to make the lovely daycare people faint do we." He walked to Jake's room and quickly changed him. He placed sun cream on every exposed part of his body and placed a small LA Raiders cap on his head with a small smile. "Looking good." He grinned and placed him in his car seat.

Carrying Jake out to the car he looked up as a flash of light caught his eye. He looked around but seeing nothing he climbed into the car and headed off to start his day.

* * *

"So we walked into the daycare and I swear he's already got the girls swooning over him." Callen said to Sam as they walked into the mission.

"It's the hair, that kid has Deeks' hair…you're gonna be beating the girls off with a stick." Sam said shaking his head.

Callen nodded in agreement, "That I will be." He said as he placed his bag at his desk and nodded over at Kensi.

"Mr. Callen?" Hetty called from her office just as Eric whistled.

Callen looked up at Eric but Hetty beckoned him into her office as the other headed upstairs.

"You alright Hetty?" Callen asked.

Hetty shook her head, "I have just been informed that…" she sighed and took a deep breath, "You and your son are being followed."

"What?! No…!" Callen shook his head, "I take precautions, and we don't use the same route twice in a row. You checked out his daycare, it's the most secure in L.A."

Hetty handed him an envelope, "This came through secure mail from Washington D.C." she said.

He sat down heavily as he opened the envelope and looked at the pictures of Callen with Jake. Callen had been hacked out of the pictures and a note was added, the handwriting shaky but familiar, "GIVE ME MY SON OR YOUR AGENT DIES!"

"Is Jake…?" Callen could not ask his throat tightened and a large knot formed in his chest, "I need to get him now!" he said.

"Sam and Kensi are on their way to collect him, Director Vance has ordered you both to be placed into protective custody, and we are arranging a safe house for you. Nell is on the way to your house to collect Jake's favorite toys." Hetty said.

Callen blanched as he realized that Hetty was using everyone's first name to try to reassure him.

"Do…do they know it might be Deeks that's after him?" Callen asked.

Hetty shook her head, "We still have no proof that Mr. Deeks is still alive apart from one grainy picture and Ms. Scuito's say so."

"But…these…this is Deeks' handwriting." Callen affirmed.

"I can see that…however handwriting can be forged." Hetty reminded him.

"I can't the chance…Jake may be in danger." Callen stood up, "I need to go…"

"Where?" Hetty asked

"I…" Callen stopped, he could not go lone wolf…not anymore, and he needed to make sure Jake was safe. He slumped back into the chair, "I don't know…where is safe enough that he won't hurt Jake. He knows me…I'm sure there's enough of Deeks left in Max that knows me…knows what I would do…God…Hetty there's no where I can be safe with him."

He could not help it, the thought that his son could be in danger made tears spring to his eyes and he started rubbing his forefinger and thumb together trying to calm his brain down enough to think… "Maybe we can leave the country?" he suggested.

Hetty shook her head, "I have a safe house, state of the art security system…private road, secluded beach. Director Vance is providing back up along with the private security."

"Where is this?" Callen asked confused.

Hetty smiled, "My third home."

Callen laughed, "It is secure alright."

"Nothing but the best for my grandson." She agreed.

* * *

Max and Sara had been in LA for three months, Sara had unpacked the last of the boxes on their apartment, and Max had moved up to second in command of the Giamatti operation.

Sara had taken to needing to spend time with him; she had gone on some jobs with Max and Luca. She just could not sit around doing nothing, the search for her son occupied all Max and Sara's spare moments. However, she needed to be out there.

Sara had hired a private detective to find her son, and he had found them, first at Detective Deeks' funeral when he took a few candid shots of the boy and later as he found the home, Callen and the boy were, living in he took more pictures and sent them to Sara. She knew she'd get in trouble for hiring the detective, but she heard Max in the evenings when he got drunk and smashed things yelling about how that 'man' had his son and it wasn't right.

She knew her husband was fully Max now…well ninety-nine-per-cent of the time, sometimes early in the morning….she would hear Max crying in the bathroom, or talking to the mirror. Then she wasn't sure who he was.

Max walked into the bedroom and shook her out of her musings.

He stopped as he saw her doing up her thigh high boots.

"And where the hell do you think you're going?" he snarled.

Sara looked over at him and smiled, "You want this deal to work don't you?" she asked doing up her skirt that resembled a belt."

"You're wearing that?" he asked.

Sara smiled, "You like this outfit…"

Max leered at her, "Yeah you look good in this, but it's distracting…" he walked over to her and ran his hands over her body, "I may not be able to take my eyes of you." He kissed her neck as she moved out of his grip.

"That's the point, if they are looking at me instead of you, this may go better." She smiled and leant over to pick something up. Max noticed the lack of what she was wearing underneath and pounced on her.

"Ok….but we leave later." He said peeling her top off.

* * *

An hour later, they had pulled into the meet and Sara got out holding the drug shipment Max was to deliver as a good faith payment to a new distributor.

Max walked around pulling her close to him.

Max had a feeling in his gut that this was not going to go well and wanted to keep Sara close.

"You got the stuff?" The smooth, well-dressed Latino asked. "If you're going to go into business with the Kings, we need to know you're legitimate."

Max laughed the kind of laugh that had men who knew him quaking with fear in their boots.

"The Kings are a two bit operation compared to the Giamatti family….do you know who we are?" he asked.

Ruiz nodded and gulped, summoning up every bit of bravado he could.

"I heard the Giamatti family pulled out of LA a few years back and went into hiding." He replied.

Max nodded slowly, "You heard that did you?"

He walked toward Ruiz and pulled his gun, "We were expanding our empire even the east coast Feds couldn't stop us…Did you hear what happened to the last kid that tried."

"I…I…heard that…some…that you shot him." Ruiz said. "The…they said you was crazy."

Max grabbed Ruiz by his expensive shirt collar and pulled him so he was standing on tiptoes, shaking and nose to nose with him.

"I. AM. NOT. CRAZY!" Max shouted at the poor quivering man.

Ruiz pulled a gun he had kept hidden in his jacket and pointed it with a shaking hand at Max.

"Back off….back off now…we just want the stuff, we just wanna make the deal!" Ruiz exclaimed as he shrugged Max off him and stepped back.

Max stumbled as Ruiz pushed him.

Ruiz dropped the bag with the money in and some of it fell out. "I knew it was wrong to deal with you guys…I told my boss the Giamattis were no good."

"We'll deal, that's all we want to do." Sara said moving in front of Max.

Ruiz was not listening, his fear of Max Giamatti was running rampant in his veins and he swung the gun wildly terrified that Max was going to kill him.

"Take the damn money, just don't kill me!" he wailed as he heard the sound of a siren nearby.

"You betrayed us?" Max snarled as he pulled his back up piece from his boot.

Ruiz's eyes grew wide at the movement, "You're a cop! I knew it!"

Max stood holding the gun on Ruiz; he smiled menacingly "I ain't no cop." He said softly and fired just as Ruiz's gun discharged both reports going off at the same time.

Max stared with a smile at Ruiz's lifeless body as the sounds of sirens got closer.

"Come on Sara, we'll take…" his word trailed off as he turned and saw Sara laying behind him, her eyes lifeless and a hole in her chest a red stain like a grotesque flower blooming on her white top.

"Sara?" Max dropped the gun he was holding and knelt beside her body, "Sara...Wake up!" he lifted her into his arms and stroked the hair from her face. "You can't die…Martino needs you, I need you….please…Sara….don't…" he let out a sob as he heard the cars roll to a halt outside of the warehouse they were in.

He looked up as a door at the far end opened and a cry of LAPD Freeze went up, he kissed Sara gently on the forehead and laid her gently on the ground.

Grabbing his gun, he picked up both bags and slipped quietly out of the rear exit, managing to avoid all the police and headed to Marc's home.

Once there he walked inside poured himself a large whiskey, drank it and poured himself another.

* * *

Marc walked in with a smile, which dropped at the sight of his living room. Chairs were overturned, anything and everything that was breakable was broken and he looked over to see Max, sitting cross-legged in the large black leather chair in the corner of the room holding his wedding picture and sobbing.

"Max?" he moved a large piece of glass that was in his way as he entered the room. "What's happened, where's Sara?" his voice was laced with dread, which increased as Max lifted his head, his eyes dull and lifeless.

"She's dead." He said flatly. "Sara's dead…I'm gonna make them all pay." He snarled as he threw the picture at Marc.

"No…no not Sara." Marc breathed falling to his knees.

Max stood up and hauled his brother in law into the chair he had just vacated. "Now…you need to tell me  _ **EXACTLY**_  where my son is…I want him back and they are all going to pay."

 


	13. Chapter 13

Callen pulled up at the safe house about ten minutes after Kensi and Sam had arrived with Jake.

He jumped out of the car slamming the door and ran into the building, "SAM!" he shouted.

"Shh…" Sam said stepping into his sightline. "It's ok, Jake's fine."

"Where is he?" Callen asked looking around.

"Kensi has just put him down for a nap,"

"You're sure he's ok? No one tried to get him from daycare?" Callen asked.

"No…no he's fine a little cranky maybe and flushed, but…"

Callen interrupted, "That's normal, he's cutting a new tooth." He relaxed slightly, "Let me see him and then as soon as the others get here I'll fill you in." he said.

"Upstairs third door on the left." Sam said

"Thanks Sam, I know where Jake's room is," Callen said, Sam stood open mouthed and watched as Callen took the stairs two at a time.

Walking down the hallway to Jake's room he could hear Kensi talking quietly to him, he leaned against the doorframe and watched as Kensi rocked him gently stroking his sore cheek soothing the now quietly sniffling boy.

Kensi started as she saw Callen watching them.

"I…Sorry…" she said as Jake woke.

He grizzled and turned to look at Callen, "Dada." He sniffed.

"You feeling bad baby?" Callen asked taking him from Kensi; he walked over to a drawer and pulled out some teething gel and childrens Tylenol gave him a spoonful and rubbed some gel on his gums.

Jake started to settle as the pain finally went away and Callen lay him down in his crib and grabbed a stuff monkey. "Here ya go sport, you get some sleep. Daddy's gotta go downstairs with auntie Kensi, Grandma'll be here soon, you sleep sweetie." He said as he turned the light down low and grabbing the baby monitor closed the door.

As they both went down the stairs Callen listened as Jake fussed a bit and then fell asleep.

"Come here a lot do you?" Sam asked as they walked into the lounge.

Callen sat on the couch and sighed, putting the baby monitor on the table, "This is one of Hetty's homes, safe enough for a safe house…Has Nell or Eric gotten anything yet?" he asked.

Sam shook his head, "I haven't heard from either of them." He admitted. "I don't get it what's going on G, why is someone targeting you and Jake, is it the Comescu's?" he asked.

Callen shook his head, "I know who it is but I don't want to say anything yet, not till Hetty and the others are here, it's easier if I do it all together ok?" he asked.

Sam frowned he was annoyed but he nodded. "Do I need to call Michelle? Are my kids in danger?"

Callen shook his head, "No…they're fine, Hetty's sending a couple of agents to watch your house as a precaution but the person after me and Jake right now is fixated more on Jake than the team."

"So it is a Comescu?" Kensi said worried.

Callen sighed, "Later…you guys want a coffee, Hetty keeps a pretty mean stash of coffee here." He said.

* * *

Max woke up his head pounding and for a moment forgot Sara was dead. He reached over and realized that not only wasn't he in bed, but he was still fully dressed on the floor propped up against the wall where he had sagged in his grief yesterday.

Marc walked in the room, he was still grief stricken at the loss of his sister, but he had Max now…and that he could use to his advantage.

"Max…I got coffee man…you ok?" he asked crouching down and handing him the beverage.

"I don't want coffee." Max snarled, "Whiskey Neat!" he snapped.

Marc nodded; "Ok…" he walked over and poured Max a drink. Soon after he had started this he had learned that after a whiskey Max was nasty…really nasty. "There ya go." He handed Max the drink and sank into an armchair looking sadly at the devastation in the room.

"Sara would screw if she saw this." Marc remarked without thinking.

"Well, she ain't gonna see it is she." Max snapped back, "She missed out on so much, especially Martino's first six months all because of that fucking fed. He took my son Marc, I want him back…he's all I have left of Sara now."

"We will get him back, we just need to bolster the troops first, just give me a little time." Marc said.

"Gimme time, gimme time!" Max snapped, "That's all we've been hearing for months, it's too late for Sara now ain't it."

"We need more men and ammunition Max, Storming an NCIS safe house isn't something you do without weapons…what you gonna do knock on the door and ask for your son back?" Marc snapped back.

Max sighed, "No Marc, you are right as usual, but how much longer, Martino is getting older, I don't want him thinking that Fed is his daddy, he's my boy."

Marc sat back the plan was to take out Max and raise the boy as his own, with Sara. Now she was dead this complicated things, but he was nothing if not flexible.

"I have a deal…it's a big one, with a Russian arms dealer, if we can do that and find where they are keeping your boy, we can launch an offensive to get him back." Marc said.

"Who?"

"Dmitri Romanov, he has some draganov sniper rifles and some grenades, we just need to sell him enough coke to take back to Russia, so you in?" he asked.

"How much does he need?" Max asked suddenly all business.

"About $10 million dollars worth." Marc said.

"Jesus Marc!" Max exclaimed, "How are we gonna get our hands on that much coke?"

"LAPD took down two drug cartels this week, I have a guy on the inside, and they have that in their evidence garage. Gonna send some men with ya and you can run a heist on the main precinct."

Max shook his head, "I don't like it man…it's too risky."

Marc looked at him askew, "So you don't think it's worth it for Martino?" he asked.

Max's head shot up and the glass in his hand went sailing across the room and landed with a smash against the wall, "I'll do anything for my son."

"THEN YOU NEED TO DO THIS!" Marc shouted at him.

Max balled up his fists but refrained from following his instincts and beating Marc to a pulp.

"Lt. Stimson from the LAPD will be over later to give us the blueprint of the LAPD evidence lock up. He's been on the payroll for years; he's as crooked as they come. So don't give him a hard time ok Max."

"Fine." Max snapped.

"Go wash yourself up Max, you stink." Marc said as he started cleaning up, "We still have a reputation to maintain, I will deal with Sara, you work on getting yourself ready for getting your son."

Max dragged himself into his bedroom and stripped off for a shower, noticing Sara's jumper still left on the bed from last night, he picked it up and sniffed it smelling her scent and fell back onto the bed holding the jumper. He had lost everything now…there was no stopping him now.

* * *

Hetty walked in the door to find her Agents sitting drinking coffee.

"Nice to see that you are taking your responsibilities seriously?" she quipped turning as Callen handed her a cup of tea.

"We saw you over the monitor, and you know the combination." He said with a smile.

She took the tea gratefully and looked around, "And where is young Mr. Callen?" she asked.

"Sleeping, he's got a slight temperature, I gave him some teething gel and a spoonful of children's Tylenol, and he should sleep for a few more hours." Callen told her.

"Is he in his room then?" she asked.

Callen nodded and showed her the monitor, "Any word on Nell and Eric?" he asked.

"Miss Jones came to your house and collected some things for young Jake, and then headed to ops to collect Mr. Beale."

"Anything?" Callen asked.

"We had information, that the mother…Sara, died last night, no one has seen Mr. Deeks since then, it is rumored that he killed her." Hetty said as Kensi gasped and Sam looked shocked.

"Deeks?" Sam asked.

Callen sighed, "Deeks didn't die, and he's been missing for months with Sara and Marc Giamatti,"

Kensi turned looking at the two of them fury on her face. "If Deeks isn't dead then who the hell did we bury six months ago?"

"The coffin was empty, Mr. Deeks went missing from Bethesda, but we lost his trail, the man who told Mr. DiNozzo and Mr. Callen that Mr. Deeks had died, turned out to be Marc Giamatti…Ms. Sciuto saw them both leaving the hospital."

"And we are only hearing about this now…Why?!" Sam snapped turning to Callen, "You knew didn't you…you let us grieve for all those months, and you knew…why didn't you go after him…were you that desperate for a family that you thought if we save Deeks he'd take Jake from you?"

Callen stepped back as if stung.

"Deeks is one of us, we need to find him and save him." Kensi argued.

"He's still Max right now and a danger to Jake…we were just waiting to see…" Callen started but Kensi cut him off.

"You were waiting?! What the heck for, you want him to lose what's left of himself, you want him to never see his kid again…God, Sam's right…you let your quest for a family override your concern for a team member, you let Deeks down all so you could steal his kid and play daddy!" she snapped.

Callen turned on his heels and left the room leaving a furious Hetty staring at the pair of them.


	14. Chapter 14

Callen walked into Jakes room and closed the door, he was broken there was no other word for it, he had thought the team had his back, now he knew better.

Jake stirred as Callen grabbed a bag from the bottom drawer and started putting essentials for his son inside.

He reached over and switched off the monitor realizing that he had left the other part in the lounge with them.

In his heart, he knew Kensi's words were not true. He had waited, but he knew that the danger to Jake outweighed everything, however, the reaction of his team…his former team showed him that he could not trust them to watch his back and by extension his sons'.

Jake was still fast asleep as he wrapped him in his coat and placed him in the car seat, the Tylenol doing its job and letting him sleep off the fever. Callen was grateful for that, as he needed to leave as quietly as possible, he did not want a scene with anyone all he wanted to do was to get his child somewhere safe. With the Team's attitude to Deeks' reappearance he could not be sure that they would put Jake first, nor that they wouldn't throw him 'under a bus' so to speak.

He stopped at the bottom of the stairs, the large bag over his shoulder and his son in his arms and listened as Kensi and Sam argued with Hetty about how unfair it had been for them to have been kept in the dark and how they needed to go and help save Deeks.

Callen blinked his eyes and swallowed quickly at the all too familiar feeling of betrayal rearing its ugly head again. It had been so long that he had actually decided that he could finally let his guard down and trust. Now he knew better.

He walked to the front door, daring anyone to come and stop him, but no one noticed them leave.

As he slammed the door, there was a loud crash from inside. Callen looked back worried he had broken one of Hetty's priceless antiques, but still no one came out.

He sighed, strapped the car seat into the passenger side of the car, and threw the large bag on the other side. "Well Jake it's just you and me, they obviously don't want us here, and not even grandma…Hetty came out for us, so…time to move on son."

He closed the car door gently, took out his badge, and walked to Hetty's front door. He wanted to go it and leave it, yell at them for making him care, but he could not do it, he could not open himself up to hearing about how they wanted Deeks back and how he was being selfish and he was not good enough. He had had enough of that growing up; he was not going to do it again and there was no way he was going to let them do it to Jake, so instead he left it and his cell phone on the small outside table Hetty had by the front door.

He drove around for hours, going to every stash, bolt-hole and hiding spot he had, taking out all the money he had hidden away just for this situation; with a little over three hundred-thousand dollars, he was good to go. He took his fake passports out of the last safe he had hidden, plus the new ones he had had made when he and Jake came back to Los Angeles and he walked back to the car, the sun was starting to rise over the city and Jake was stirring and would need food soon.

* * *

He pulled into a diner over forty miles from their last stop, as Jake stirred and got him changed and cleaned up.

"You ok kid?" he grinned as Jake smiled showing his new tooth.

"Hey you got a tooth!" he exclaimed as Jake babbled happily.

He lifted him up and walked into the diner, "Morning." Wanda the server smiled as the handsome man and little boy walked in, "What can I get you?" she asked.

Callen smiled, "Coffee, pancakes and some milk please." He slid into a booth balancing Jake on his knee.

Within moments, Wanda turned up with a highchair and milk in a bottle. "Don't worry, we sterilize the bottles and the teats are new, looks like you both have had a rough night."

Callen nodded as he handed Jake the milk, "Yeah teething."

"So you've let your wife sleep in, that's sweet." Wanda smiled.

"His mother isn't with us anymore." Callen said as he sipped on the coffee Wanda was pouring.

"Awww, how can someone leave someone as precious as you?" she said ruffling Jake's hair and beaming as he giggled.

"She died." Callen explained.

"I'm sorry." Wanda said genuinely sorry, the man and boy looked too tired and she had always had a soft spot for waifs and strays. "We don't usually get many people stopping here in Phelan, so are you just passing through?"

"Yeah…I was wondering if you had a motel in town, I could use a few hours sleep?" Callen asked, already feeling tired as he slowed down and the emotions from yesterday started to take over.

"We have one, well it's a few rooms attached to the back of the diner, not anything fancy, but they are clean and have a bathroom." She told him.

Callen nodded, "I'll take a room, thanks." She put a plate of food in front of him and a smaller cut up plate with pancakes on in front of Jake who started eating happily.

"I didn't order any food." Callen said looking at the breakfast special in front of him.

"On the house love, you need to keep your strength up for your little one." She smiled.

Overwhelmed by her generosity Callen stood up and hugged her, "Thank you." He said.

Wanda smiled, "My son was your age before he died, I would like to think I could still help where I can, I'm sure your parents would be proud of you."

Callen blinked and nodded, not wanting to tell her, but the older woman seemed to notice straight away, "You all alone son?"

"I have Jake." He said as he sat back down.

"Do you mind?" Wanda gestured to the empty side of the booth and at Callen's nod; she sat down with a grateful smile.

"Do you have anyone else to help you with your boy?" she continued.

"It's just us…I'm an orphan." He did not know why but he found her easy to talk to.

Wanda smiled again, "Me and Bert have run this place since our son died, he was a Marine, died six years ago. He never had a family, but I think he would have made a lovely father. Now this is all we have." She admitted.

"It's a nice place," Callen said looking at the small diner, there were no other customers but the place was clean and he had to admit as he gave in and ate the food, it was good.

"It's a dust bowl, there's nothing here, but it was the last place we stayed with Mike, we sank all our savings into it after he died." She admitted. "Now surely even if you don't have family you must have some friends?"

Callen shook his head sadly.

* * *

Max snarled as he looked over Marc's plans for the raid on the LAPD evidence locker, "I don't like this," he growled. "I'd rather we just shot the shit outta them and took what we need, I'm too old to be play acting."

"You are not play acting Max. You are going in as Deeks, Not everyone in LAPD knows you…or rather he is dead, you can get us in and out with the minimum of fuss." Marc told him.

"I suppose it saves bullets and time, but nothing will stop me from wasting that slime Stimpson if he so much as even dares to cross me." Max picked up his gun and started cleaning it.

"We have to do this tonight Max, Romanov will be meeting us in three days, we get the guns, we sell the guns and you have one untraceable to kill that Callen guy and get Martino back, then as you said he can rot in hell and we can raise Martino to head this empire."

Max cocked an eyebrow at his brother in law, "You have plans for my boy then?" he asked guardedly.

"I do and for you, you will both one day help me expand my business empire, and we will control the flow of arms and drugs going in and out of America." Marc said handing Max another glass of whiskey.

Max drank it quickly, wincing slightly at the burn on the way down. "For my son…" he said

Marc nodded, "For the next generation of Giamatti's, your boy will have power and people will bow down to him, he will do both you and Sara proud."

"How do you know she would be proud," he asked sullenly.

"She told me that what she wanted was for you all to take over the family empire, to be able to move somewhere hot and knowing that Martino would be so respected that no one would ever put him down or call him useless."

Somewhere inside Deeks a memory of a man standing over him, calling him a worthless and useless kid came to mind, "No one will ever call my son that." He vowed, "We need to get him back, raise him with the respect he deserves."

"Amen brother!" Marc said and poured Max another drink.

* * *

Sam and Kensi listened as Hetty read them the riot act, there was no way that what Kensi had just said to Callen could be left to stand.

They sat as Hetty explained how Callen and she had decided to keep the team out of the loop, so they could move on until they found and hopefully rehabilitated Deeks, she explained what Rachel Cranston had told them about Deeks' condition, about what she had learned of the death of Sara Giamatti and the message that Callen had received in the mail.

By the time she was done, both Kensi and Sam felt contrite, Kensi the most, she knew she shouldn't have gone off at Callen; however, the shock of her partner and friend again being alive had shaken her to the core. "I should apologize to him," Kensi decided standing up suddenly and knocking the tray of tea things over in the process. Immediately she moved with Sam to pick up the pieces of fine bone china scattered on the floor.

"Mr. Hanna, I will deal with the rest of this, would you go and ask Mr. Callen if he wouldn't mind coming down here for a moment, I believe you have a lot to talk about." Hetty requested and Sam moved to comply.

Kensi sank back onto the couch and dropped her head into her hands, "I messed up so bad Hetty."

Hetty shook her head, "You made a mistake dear, it happens…However, you do owe Mr. Callen an apology, He trusts you like family and Jake is the most important thing he has, he promised Mr. Deeks he would protect that boy with his life, and it is a testament to his friendship with Mr. Deeks that not once has Mr. Callen shirked from his task."

Sam ran down the stairs, "Hetty, He's gone!" he exclaimed.

"Who?" she asked, fearing that Jake had been kidnapped.

"Callen and Jake, there's a bag missing and some of Jake's things, the basic's a kid needs, but they are gone." Sam was angry his partner had chosen to run instead of trusting the team to have his back.

"Maybe he's just taken Jake outside, you know, to listen to the ocean?" she walked towards the door and gasped as she looked down, Callen's badge and phone were next to the front door on the outside table. "Sam!" Kensi exclaimed, "He's really gone, he's left his badge and his cell phone."

Hetty sighed, "I am afraid he may have, and if Mr. Deeks is able to find him before we do both Mr. Callen and young Jake may be in grave danger."

 


	15. Chapter 15

It had been five years since anyone had seen Callen or Jake. Sam, Kensi, Eric and Nell had looked everywhere for them, no credit card usage, not signs of Callen on any camera's or any watch lists, as Hetty had added his name to the FBI database as a person of interest.

Nothing.

However, Callen had seen them. On the few trips he had taken into LA he had spotted them, he'd even spent one day watching the boat-shed and had seen the two new agents who had joined the team.

Forty miles outside of LA in the small town of Phelan, Callen and Jake had settled down nicely, Callen…or Greg Carter as he was now known worked as a handyman at the diner and for the other people in the small town. Jake Carter had grown up and now at five years old he was Wanda and Bert's favorite customer.

Wanda had rented Greg and Jake the old trailer at the back of the property, Greg had found some old child's toys in the shed attached to the trailer which he had fixed up for Jake given Wanda's blessing. In return, he fixed the diner's appliances when needed free.

Wanda had taken to the young man and his son as soon as they had walked in the diner, and the first night she had been locking up when she heard him screaming in his sleep and knocked on his door before he woke his son. They had sat together until 3am, Callen not saying much and Wanda telling him about how her son had come home from leave with PTSD and how she had chatted to him to help put his demons at rest.

Greg never talked much the first month there, but slowly he came to trust this nice old couple, he had to admit they reminded him of a few of the nicer foster parents he had had. Jake had trusted Wanda instantly and became a hit with the old couple, Wanda had made him a birthday cake every year and had taught Callen how to throw a party for the boy, when Greg had come to her explaining he had never done it before and had no idea how to throw a birthday party.

Instead of ridiculing him as he expected she sat him down and made a list of what Jake liked and what he did not like, the names of the few boys he had made friends with at Kindergarten. Greg, Wanda and Bert planned it and Jake's first birthday was in Callen's opinion the best party he had ever seen.

In addition, Jake grew in those five years like a weed.

Max had pulled off the biggest robbery the LAPD has ever seen. Over ten million dollars in cocaine went missing, and Lt. Stimpson was found dead at the scene.

The manhunt spanned over 10,000 men and Marc and Max Giamatti disappeared from sight that day and with no evidence neither the FBI nor NCIS or the LAPD had enough evidence to prove it was them.

They took their haul, exchanged it for the guns from Romanov, sold all but one and were out of the country with 20 million dollars by sunrise that day.

Even Max could not believe the ease at which they pulled off their plan, as they relaxed in their new home in Italy, they had purchased a huge villa.

Max had hired over forty private detectives in Los Angeles to find out where his son was, there was no information from any of them for years although he knew they had been working hard to find out where.

Each day that passed Max's hatred of Callen and fury at the loss of his son grew.

Then he got a call, he smiled as he listened to the news, "We are on our way." He said and put the phone down.

Sam and Kensi had built a new team, Hetty was still operations manager and she too was looking for Callen, having Eric run a program looking for him in the background of every case they ran.

For months Kensi and Sam had been partners, they still were but the team did not run as cohesively.

They were good, that had not changed but the seamless way they worked, the total trust, apart from at work it was not there.

Monty came in with Kensi to work every morning, he was showing his age and the new agents did not like him, but Sam also adored the dog, so they put up with him.

Kensi placed her bag by the desk as Monty flopped into his basket.

"Morning Hetty. " Kensi said as the older woman walked into the bullpen.

"Morning Ms Blye. How are you today?" she asked reaching down to stroke Monty's head.

"We're ok," She put some kibble in Monty's bowl and refilled his water bowl from yesterday, Monty lay his head on Deeks' old LAPD t-shirt and huffed loudly.

The two new agents walked in, laughing about the man they had arrested on their last case, "Mr. Stills, and Mr. Redding, I hope you are both up to date with your paperwork?" Hetty said.

Both looked abashed and headed to their desks, "Yes Hetty." The replied in unison, Kensi grinned and Hetty looked at her, "You have some for me as well I think, Ms Blye." She added.

Sam smirked and handed a strip of bacon down to Monty who wolfed it down happily.

Nell came running down the stairs, and looked for Hetty. "Hetty…I think I've found him" she said gesturing towards her office.

Sam stood up, "Who…Deeks or G?" he asked.

"Callen…and…it's not good." She said sadly.

Hetty nodded towards her office, "Ms Blye, Mr. Hanna with me, Mr. Stills and Mr. Redding, I believe Mr. Beale has a case for you."

Stills and Redding gave each other a resigned nod; they had been members of the team for over two years but still were not included when the names Deeks or Callen were mentioned. Both had tried to research the men that made their new team clam up and speak in harsh whispers.

Stills turned to Hetty, "No…not this time, both Stan and myself always get pushed aside, now are we a part of this team or not?" He snapped at her, before she could answer he continued. "Now neither Stan nor myself have any idea what your beef is with this Deeks or Callen guy, or what they have done, both files are classified, but it sounds dangerous and we both know if it were one of you we would want you at our backs, we are…or at least we thought we were a team."

Hetty sighed, "Yes Russell, you are right, you are a part of this team, if you and Mr. Redding would like to come into my office Miss Jones can fill us in on the status of Mr. Callen and then we will fill you in." she said leading the team to her office.

Callen had got up early, Jake was sitting in front of the small television in the trailer catching up on his Saturday morning cartoons while eating his dinosaur cereal, Callen took five minutes to have his shower and grab Jake's school clothes.

He walked out of his bedroom to see Jake sprawled on his stomach shoveling cereal down his throat.

"Sit up Jake, you'll choke." He said as he went to the kitchen area and poured himself a coffee.

"Yes daddy." Jake said and slowly sat up, waiting until Callen sat down with his back to him and lay-back on his stomach again.

Callen smirked looking in a small mirror he had installed at the table area, where he could spy on his son in the living area.

"Eat up, we have to go see Wanda and Bert I have work to do."

"Ok dad." Jake sat up and finished his cereal carefully taking his bowl and dumping it in the sink.

Callen added his coffee cup and grabbed Jake's bag, "Come on then squirt."

Wanda sat in the booth in her diner, Bert shakily making food for the two men, who were holding a gun on his wife.

"I don't understand why you won't leave; we offered you what was in the till." Wanda sobbed.

"We are not here for money, I am here for what is mine." The younger man growled.

"But we don't know you, I don't have anything of yours." She cried.

"No but Callen does." Max snarled.

"I don't know anyone called Callen!" Wanda said.

Max smiled as Callen's beat up truck pulled into the parking lot. Wanda put her hand over her mouth in terror.

"Greg!" she breathed.

"Callen." Max sneered.

"No…no you have the wrong man, that's Greg Carter and his son Jake, he's just a handyman, he's no threat to you, please, just let me talk to them and send them away." She begged.

Max laughed as Marc moved out of sight in the kitchen.

"One wrong word and my brother will kill your husband, you see you didn't take anything from me, he did and I want it back."

"Daddy?" Jake asked as they walked into the diner, "Can I ride my bike today?"

"Sure, you can get it from around the back, I have to fix Uncle Bert's toaster." He said. He turned and called out, "Bert, Wanda, we're here." Callen closed the door watching Jake run around the back to play on the small bike that his dad had fixed for him.

He stopped as the bell finished ringing and he noticed Wanda sitting in the booth her tear stained face staring at him.

He reached for the small of his back where he still kept his gun, but stopped as a barrel was pressed into his shoulder, "You still carrying Agent Callen?" Marc asked.

Callen raised his hands, "Small of my back." He admitted shooting a glance outside where Jake was riding happily on his bike.

"Who are you and what do you want?" he asked his heart pounding, his worry was that a Comescu had found him.

Max stood up and turned towards him, "I want my son Callen." He snarled.

"Deeks…" Callen said shocked.

"My name is Max, you know that!" he snarled.

"De…Max…you can't take him from me, he doesn't know you, you gave him to me to keep him safe from this sort of thing, please, Marty, Jake is my son." Callen begged his blood turning to ice as Jake dropped his bike and came running into the diner.

"Dad!" Jake started as he entered, he saw the men with guns and his eyes widened. "Daddy?" he asked his voice scared as he ran over to Callen and grabbed his leg. Callen wrenched Jake's' arms off him and pushed him towards Wanda.

"Deeks we need to talk, but not in front of the boy, let Wanda take him out back, he doesn't need to see this."

Max looked at his son, he could see so much of Sara in him, for a moment Deeks looked at his boy, not Max. A small smiled graced his features.

Callen noticed, "Deeks, let him go with Wanda, we can talk."

Deeks started to nod, but Max took over again, "NO…He's my son he's coming with me!" he yelled his hand shaking holding the gun.

Jake squirmed out of Wanda's hold and ran towards Callen, just as Max fired the gun; Callen threw himself in front of Jake and took the bullet, falling down with blood streaming from his wound.

"DADDY!" Jake screamed,

Wanda cried out as Max picked up Jake and headed for door with the five year old screaming under his arm as Wanda dropped to Callen's side and pressed napkins into his wound, as Bert called 911.


	16. Chapter 16

Callen desperately tried to fight off the paramedics and Wanda as they tried to treat him, "I have to get Jake!" he protested.

"Greg, you need to let them help you, the police will put an amber alert out for your son, they are pulling up now." she said looking out of the window as the police cruiser pulled up.

"No...you don't understand…" Callen mumbled as the paramedic injected him with a light sedative, he flopped back and they worked on patching him up.

Wanda quickly filled the officers in on what had happened about how the two men had taken the five-year-old child.

They put out an Amber Alert for Jake Carter and then as a precaution they took Greg Carter's fingerprint while he was starting to come around.

Officer Kelly Betts looked down as a small beep sounded on her portable fingerprint scanner.

She grabbed her handcuffs and cuffed the drugged man to the table leg that was bolted to the ground.

"What are you doing that for, he's the victim here!" Wanda said shocked.

"There is an FBI/CIA bolo out on this man, Federal Agents are being dispatched to pick him up, I don't know what he's supposed to have done, it's classified but I don't want to be on the receiving end if he got away again."

Wanda and Burt looked at this man they had thought of as a son for 5 years, who was he?

As two more cars pulled up to the diner and the occupants went to talk to Officer Betts' partner, Callen stirred.

The paramedic injected another sedative into him, "It'll help with the pain." he said and looked over at the Officer, "Does he need to be cuffed to that?"

Officer Betts nodded and moved away to see what was going on outside.

Callen moved his arm and realized he was cuffed to something above his head.

"Jake?" he groaned, he blinked as he woke and cleared his head, he felt groggy and disoriented. "JAKE!" he pulled at the restraints and lifted his head to see both Wanda and Bert staring at him.

"Wanda...Bert, please you have to help me." Callen begged.

"Who are you?" Bert growled, "The police say you are wanted by the FBI and CIA, you a terrorist boy?"

Callen shook his head and pulled again at the handcuffs. "No I'm not, please, Jake is in danger." he reached for the small bobby pin he kept in his watch strap and picked the lock on the cuffs as the officer turned to see who was outside.

He reached for the small of his back and realized his gun wasn't there.

"STOP OR I'LL SHOOT!" Betts snapped as she turned to find Callen uncuffed and sat up.

Callen raised his hands, "I am unarmed, I just needed to sit up, I just want…"

"Callen…" Sam's voice cut in as the four Federal Agents entered the diner. "We've been looking for you everywhere."

Much to the surprise of not only the two new agents, but the occupants of the diner too, Sam walked across the room and pulled his ex-partner into a hug.

"I thought you were dead G." he growled out.

Callen pushed him off and took a step back as Kensi moved to re-assured the officer that Callen wasn't a threat.

"Might as well be." Callen snapped turning away, "Jake's gone,"

Sam's gaze darkened, "You put him in care?" He asked.

Callen shook his head, Deeks found me.

He stopped and shot Sam a dark look, "He finds me, you found me…." he stepped back in caution, "Did you guys tell him where I was...you wanted him to have Jake back didn't you?"

Sam put a hand up as Stills and Redding moved to protect their teammates.

"G…"

"Greg, son...your wound is bleeding, sit down son." Wanda moved to grab the first aid kit, and G relaxed into her touch. He smiled sadly, "I'm sorry Wanda." he sighed.

"It's ok son, I know..so not a terrorist?" she smiled.

G gave her a smile back, "No...not a terrorist, ex-federal agent, this is Sam my partner." he sighed, he was forgetting something as the painkiller the Paramedic had injected earlier finally started to take effect.

"Painkillers working?" Wanda asked patting his arm, knowing he needed to know that someone was there keeping him grounded.

"Uh-huh…." Callen nodded, he lifted his shirt as Wanda changed the dressing on his wound, "Jake ok?" he slurred.

"It's all gonna be ok Greg," Wanda promised him hoping that she wasn't lying, "You let that medicine take effect, lay back here son."

"Ok ma," Callen breathed out heavily and let the meds take effect.

Sam stood and looked at the interplay between surrogate mother and son, Callen had obviously found somewhere he felt safe.

Until Callen fell totally under he kept a tight grip on Wanda's hand, "Keep Jake safe, I'll just sleep for a bit." he sighed.

* * *

He dropped her hand and she stood up, rubbing her hand down the pinafore that was a part of her uniform and she turned to Sam.

"Ok, you seem to be in charge here," she said, "You explain to me why men had kidnapped my grandson and shot my son and no one is doing anything about it." she poked Sam in the chest and he took a step back.

"We have a description of Jake that your husband gave us and our best people are checking traffic camera's to find Deeks and Jake, trust me ma'am we care about the boy as much as you do." Sam said raising his hands in an effort to placate the woman.

"You care about him?" Wanda snorted, "He's been living hand to mouth barely being able to keep himself alive, every penny he makes has been invested in Jake, you say you care but none of you have been here for the last five years, you don't know what he's had to do to make sure that boy had decent food and clothing." She blinked a few tears away and turned looking at Callen who was moaning quietly in his sleep.

She reached over and touched him gently on the cheek and he slept again.

"You weren't there when he was screaming, when he had the nightmares, apparently when he needed you the most you turned your back on him!" she snapped.

"We did." Kensi agreed walking up to the woman, "We made a mistake and we paid dearly for it, we have been looking for him for a long time, we want to bring him home."

Bert came out with a small grey blanket, "Here honey, I have his blanket." he lay it over Callen's still form. "And word on my Grandson?" he asked.

"We are looking." Kensi said, "We will find Jake." she promised.

"We need to look where they were living, to see if there are any clues, do you have an address for them?"

Wanda looked confused, "He don't have an actual address honey, he's got a trailer on the back corner of the lot, round out of sight of the road. He doesn't get mail, the trailer has a generator for electricity but everything is charged to the diner." she explained.

She handed Sam the spare key.

Sam turned to Stills and Redding, "You stay here, Liaise with the LAPD and see if Eric has anything on Deeks or the kid."

They nodded and went over to call Eric as Kensi and Sam headed in the direction that Wanda pointed.

* * *

"I wonder why he drove the truck over here, it's not that far?" Kensi asked.

The trailer looked basic and clean on the outside, Sam opened the door and they stepped inside.

There was a old tv in the corner, a threadbare rug in the middle of the floor. A bowl and a mug in the sink and a small refrigerator and a two ring hob. There was a small air conditioning unit, that had obviously been taken from somewhere else and been tinkered with to fit the trailer. There were kids pictures taped to the fridge and the walls, one or two covering a few holes in the wall of the trailer.

Kensi looked at a picture of a two men a boy and a woman. 'My Family by Jake Carter aged 5' written proudly in the bottom corner.

There was a ledger in a closet above the small table in the kitchen area, Kensi took it out and looked through it.

"It looks like Callen was just keeping his head above water," she said.

Sam walked down past her to the two rooms that the trailer had, "This one's a bathroom." he said, he saw all of Jakes bath toys and the fact that there was a shower hanging over the obviously had installed bathtub that Callen had put there for his son.

"There's a bedroom here, looked like Jake's." Kensi called as she opened the room at the back.

There was a comfortable bed and lots of books and toys, the room was painted patchwork, it looked like Callen had used different pots of paint to make the room bright and airy.

Kensi smiled at the two handprints above the bed, "Jake and Daddy." were written in paint underneath.

There were a cornucopia of soft plushie toys on the bed and he had a full wardrobe, the clothes all be it obviously worn, maybe thrift store items, it was obvious that Jake hadn't suffered being in this trailer.

She turned as Sam looked at the room with a knowing smile and then he looked in the other closets, "There's not a lot of Adult food in here, everything seems geared to Jake, the only thing that looks like Callen's is the coffee."

Kensi looked in the icebox and started at the gun hidden there.

"There's a gun here!" she pulled it out and placed it on the table.

Opening more closets revealed a small shelf with clothes for Callen and a wash kit. A big manila envelope.

She sat on the bench by the table and opened the envelope.

"Sam?" she called looking through the paperwork, "There's a whole new set of I.D's here for Callen and Jake. it looks like he was planning on moving on."

* * *

Jake opened his eyes and looked at the blond haired man who was driving the car he was in.

"I want my daddy." he groaned. He tried sitting up but he was strapped in by a lap belt that stopped him from moving too far.

"I'm your daddy." The man in the drivers seat said to him.

"No you're not, Daddy is my daddy." Jake said scowling at the man in front.

"We are going to stop soon, you had better behave." The man said, Jake gulped, he didn't like this man at all.

He sniffed as he cried, he missed his daddy and he wanted to go home.

"I want grandma Wanda and grandpa Bert and Daddy, I wanna go home." he whined.

The car screeched to a halt and the man turned and looked at the terrified child.

"I don't know what that man told you, but he isn't your daddy, I am and I'm gonna teach you to behave."

"Max...you're scaring the kid." Marc snapped giving the boy a sad look.

"That Fed has ruined this kid, he's too spoilt, he needs to learn his place." Max snapped. "Martino, sit still."

Jake looked confused, "My name is Jake Carter."

Max got out of the car and opened the rear passenger door.

"Get out!" he yelled undoing the belt and pulling Jake from the car.

"You listen to me kid, your name is Martino and I am Max your father, that man stole you from me as a baby and I don't want you to mention him ever again do you understand?" He snarled.

Jake nodded shaking, he didn't like this man and he really hoped that his daddy would find him soon and take him home.

He rubbed his arm which hurt from the pressure that his 'father' had put on it when he pulled him out of the car.

Max hit Jake once around the head and threw him back in the car, "Now behave." Max snapped. He slammed the door shut and climbed in the drivers seat.

"Careful Max, he's just a kid." Marc warned him.

"I'm teaching him, he needs to learn… Didn't do me any harm as a kid, we need to stop for a few days, those people will have called the cops by now, I ain't gonna lose my kid again coz of a damn Amber Alert." Max started the car up again, "Next motel we come to you get us two rooms and I'll park up with Jake."

They drove for a hour longer until they saw a motel at the side of the road. Max parked up while Marc booked two rooms. taking Jake and hiding him under his coat he carried the boy into the room.

"You yell or squirm and I swear kid you'll regret it." Max had snarled as he picked him up.

Jake buried his head in the crook of the man's neck and sobbed quietly as Max carried him to the room.

Max threw Jake on the bed, "You sleep here, now get into bed."

Jake wanted to let him know it wasn't his bedtime but he wasn't going to argue with the man who had taken him from his daddy.

He stripped down to his briefs and climbed in the bed pulling the covers up to his chin, he missed his monkey and his daddy and he turned his back to the man who was sitting on his own bed and opening a bottle of whiskey. He turned on the TV and Jake looked over hearing his name over the television.

"...Jake Carter, five years old, blond haired blue eyes, taken this morning from a diner in Phelan, Police think the men his is with are armed and dangerous, under no circumstances should they be approached…" Max switched off the screen.

"They know nothing, go to sleep Marty." he said.

Jake looked at him for a second and Max's gaze darkened.

"Ye...yes daddy," Jake replied his voice wavering in fear, he closed his eyes and prayed that his daddy would find him soon.

 


	17. Chapter 17

Jake woke up sleepily rubbing his eyes, 'it wasn't a bad dream.' He thought sadly, He really was in a strange place with two strange men. quietly he started to cry his missed his daddy, Grandma Wanda and Grandpa Bert.

He curled up as he felt the bed move and a hand grip him by the shoulder.

"Get up." Max growled.

Jake nodded not wanting the say the wrong thing. He sat up and pulled his shoes on as he was still wearing his jeans and t-shirt from the day before.

Max opened a chocolate bar and tossed it at Jake, "Here kid...breakfast…"

Jake looked at it, "It's a chocolate bar, I can't have that for breakfast, daddy makes me cereal." he said stubbornly.

"I'm your daddy and I say you're having a chocolate bar. NOW EAT!" Max snapped.

Jake took the bar and nibbled a bit as Marc watched the pair of them.

"Max?" he said moving over to the side of the room, "Do you really think that is good for the boy?"

Max's eyes flashed in anger.

"Outside." He growled.

Marc shot a sad look at the boy and followed Max outside.

Max walked around the corner, out of sight of the road and the other patrons of the motel and grabbed Marc by the throat. Slamming him up against the wall he pulled his gun from the small of his back and aimed it in his brother in law's face.

" _You tellin me how to bring up my boy?_ " He snarled.

"He's  _my_ nephew, my sisters son too...How do you think she would feel about your treatment of him?" Marc pushed.

"He's a wimp...too soft...he needs toughening up." Max snapped.

Inside his head he could here Deeks screaming, "No! No! No! Don't do that to him!" Max shook his head.

"You ok?" Marc asked concerned.

"Shut up!" Max snapped, although he wasn't sure who he was talking to himself or his brother in law.

He shook his head and walked to a small copse of trees muttering to himself as Marc looked on worried.

"Max?"

Max turned and launched himself at Marc, punching him over and over again. Marc slid down covering his head.

" _ **I AM NOT MY FATHER**_!" Max growled menacingly as the punches reigned down.

' _Really?'_ Deeks snapped at the Image of himself in his head, Deeks was watching it as if it were on a movie screen, he could see the movements that Max's hands were making, but had no control over his body. He leant against a wall that really wasn't there and talked at the screen.

"You're just like him…" He taunted.

Marc watched, wiping the blood off his face as Max walked away from him again.

"No I'm not...not Brandel...Not!" he mumbled.

"You know you are acting just like him, give Jake back to Callen...if you're not like  _dear old dad_ , give him back!" Deeks pleaded.

"You'd like that wouldn't you." Max said looking at the Ghost image of himself that only he could see.

Marc scrambled away, hoping that he could sort himself out...or get away before Max noticed.

"Don't even think about it!" Max said not taking his eyes off the ghost image, but pointing his gun off to the right squarely at Marc.

"Let him go…" Deeks tried reasoning with himself.

Max smiled, "I don't think so." He pulled the trigger and as Deeks faded away Marc's lifeless body slid to the sidewalk.

* * *

Max headed back to the motel room and opened the door.

"Grab your stuff." He snapped, "We're going."

"I...I don't have any stuff." Jake said as he stood up, but grabbed his sweater and pulled it on.

"You got that ain't ya, now don't backchat me." Max looked through Marc's coat pocket, took out his wallet and looked through it. Taking the money out of the leather wallet he threw it aside and placed it and a credit card in his back pocket.

He threw the key on the bed and picked up Marc's car keys, "Come on now, straight into the back of the car and no talking."

Jake nodded and as Max opened the door he ran for the car and stood, his hands in his pockets rocking on his heels waiting for Max to open the door.

Max slapped him around the back of the head, "Stop fidgeting." he snapped as he opened the door.

"Yessir." Jake said sullenly as he climbed into the car.

Max slammed the door shut and got into the drivers seat to drive away.

Jake looked around for the other man that was supposed to be with them, the taller dark haired one. But he was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

Callen was still out cold as Kensi and Sam walked back into the diner.

They stopped in surprise as the saw a woman sitting in the back booth across from where Callen was still sleeping, the medications working to their fullest effect.

"Hetty?" Sam said surprised.

"Mr Hanna," She said as if nothing surprised her, which in actual fact it didn't.

"Hetty?" Kensi echoed. "Why are you here?"

Hetty raised an eyebrow and took a sip of her tea, "For Mr. Callen and my grandson of course."

She looked over at her sleeping ex-agent, She was concerned that he had lost so much weight, he seemed haunted by the past five years, although she wondered how much of that haunted look was actually because he'd neglected his own well being over the last few years.

Callen groaned as he slowly woke up.

"Ma?" he mumbled.

Within a second Wanda was at his side, "Greg...it's ok, you're ok."

He sat up focusing solely on her.

"What happened, you get held up again?" he asked. Then it came to him, " _ **Jake!**_  They took Jake...you can't call the police...I'll…" he stopped as he realized they weren't alone.

"Mr. Callen." Her voice cut through him and instinctively he held a bit tighter onto Wanda's arm.

" _No!_ " He breathed, " _Not you._ "

* * *

He sat up and looked past Wanda to the smaller, older woman sat in the booth opposite with the two others.

"I understand it may be unsettling, but we are here to help." Hetty promised him.

Shakily Callen got to his feet, "I don't need your help, been doing fine by myself for years."

Hetty stood up and walked to stand in front of him.

"And where is your son?" she asked icily.

_"Bitch._ " Callen snapped under his breath and turned away from her. He whirled back to her grabbing the back of a booth as he did so feeling shaky.

"I did what you all wanted, I left...we left, we didn't contact you...We asked for nothing…" he couldn't stop the tears of pain that were in his eyes, although he would blame it on the medication in his system, not the pain in his heart. "We coped...now all of you turn up at the same time?" He leant down slightly putting his face near hers, "Did you sell us out? Did you tell Deeks where we were? Did you all think so little of me as a parent to spend all this time trying to find me to sell me out to Deeks?" He straightened up and shook off Wanda's hand.

"I haven't needed you for the past few years, I don't need you now….Go back to your happy life, I'll find my son myself…." He strode towards the door. opened it and went outside and around the corner...where he collapsed as the adrenaline left him.

Stills and Redding watched in amazement as the man they had only heard about in whispers had taken on Hetty and lived.

Never had either man seen her look as broken as she did right now, and both wondered what the man that had just left, had been to her.

Sam walked over and put a hand on Hetty's shoulder, "He's hurting, he doesn't mean it." he said quietly.

Hetty shook her head, "No Mr. Hanna, he does mean it." she replied sadly.

* * *

Sam and Kensi walked out of the diner looking for Callen.

They noticed the door to the trailer was opened and Callen came out lugging a duffle and throwing it into the back of the truck and went back inside not noticing them.

"We need to talk to him." Kensi said.

Sam nodded he was as mad as hell, his partner had upped and left nearly 5 years ago, with no word. They find him and now he was blaming them.

"What the hell are you doing?" Sam yelled at G.

"Getting my son back Sam, you can either help me or get outta my way." Callen snarled.

"Why the attitude man?" Sam asked genuinely shocked at this new version of his partner.

Callen turned and pushed Sam against the side of the trailer with so much force that something inside crashed to the ground.

"Do you know why I left?" He snapped.

Sam shook his head, "No...none of us know, one day we were helping you raise your boy. The next you disappear."

"Deeks' son...I  _ **stole**_  him remember….Your words...I drove Deeks away in  _my_  quest to take his son and have a family." Callen's eyes burned darker with fury.

Sam realized that both he and Kensi had said something like that.

"We were upset, we didn't mean it." He said holding his hands up trying to placate his ex-partner.

Callen stepped back and turned to the pair of them. "Yes you did." he said flatly and went back into the trailer.

Kensi shot Sam a worried look and he motioned for her to stay outside as he followed his partner inside.

* * *

Callen grabbed a broken mug, rinsed it out, and swallowed a couple of painkillers from the small cupboard over the sink. He winced as he stretched, his wound bleeding from his flight from the diner.

"G!" Sam said watching his ex-partner as he moved around and walked to the back of the trailer ignoring him.

He went into Jakes room, grabbed a plushie and a blanket. For a second he held them to his face, closing his eyes and breathing in his son's scent.

"Go away Sam...Take Kensi and her...and go back to your life." Callen walked past him and headed to the truck.

"You gonna find him in that?" Sam said pointing at the rusty brown truck.

"What's wrong with it?" Callen asked.

Sam looked at it, "It doesn't look like it'll make it more than a mile."

Callen climbed in and slammed the door, turning the key in the ignition a few times he hit the steering wheel in frustration as the engine flooded.

Grabbing his bag and the small bag he'd packed for Jake he climbed out of the truck and headed for the road.

"Dammit G!" Sam yelled as Callen walked past the diner heading to the road and walked in the direction that he'd seen Deeks' car go.

Kensi and Sam ran after him.

"Callen….Stop...please let us help!" Kensi called.

Hetty and Wanda walked out of the diner in concern watching as Sam and Kensi caught up to Callen.

"Why?" Callen snapped turning on them again, "You'll help me, and then take my son away…" as he turned away he dropped his bag and grabbed hold of the wound on his side.

Pulling his hand away he look at the blood that was on him.

"Callen...please…" Kensi ran up to him.

"You wanna help?" Callen asked rapidly turning white.

Kensi nodded not seeing the wound on him.

"Save my son." He begged as he allowed the darkness to take him and he crumbled to the ground.

 


	18. Chapter 18

Max pulled up outside another motel, "Stay in the car." he snapped at Jake.

Jake nodded and looked fearfully out of the window.

He saw a beat up brown pick up truck and his heart beat wildly. "Daddy!" he screamed banging on the window.

A woman walking past looked at the tear stained boy banging his small fists on the window. She walked over and knocked on the glass.

"Hey are you ok?" she asked.

Jake looked up at her, "I want my daddy!" he cried.

Max walked out of the office and saw a woman standing by his car.

"Can I help you?" He asked flashing a smile her way his hand sliding behind his back to the knife he had stashed at his belt.

"Is this your son?" she asked.

"Yes." Max replied honestly.

Jake shook his head, "He isn't my daddy." he cried.

"I'm sorry, his mother died recently, Please, join us for a coffee and I'll explain," he opened the door to the car, "Grab your bags Marty, lets get in the room."

Jake grabbed the woman's hand, "Take me to my daddy please." he asked.

Max shot her an apologetic smile, "Come on kid, let's get you settled," He waited as the woman looked from the child to the man, they did...she had to admit, look alike. "Please, let me make you a coffee." Max smile and she melted at his smile and bright blue eyes. She nodded and followed.

* * *

Callen woke up, smells of antiseptic and a low beeping fading in and out through his head.

"Mr. Callen," Hetty said.

"No...No...I can't be here, I have to find Jake...please Hetty...let me go?" he said as he pulled his wrists at the restraints that were attached to the side of the bed.

"Mr. Hanna and Mr Stiles are checking a lead, Ms Blye and Mr. Redding are liaising with the police on the trail of Mr Deeks and Mr Giamatti."

"I need to be out there looking for Jake, he's too small to be on his own." Callen pulled again at the restraints, "Please…" he begged.

"Mr Callen, you were shot, you refused to get the proper medical attention and you nearly bled out and died, I ordered the restraints to make sure you stayed and healed." Hetty told him.

" ** _YOU CAN'T DO THIS_**!" Callen shouted pulling harder at the restraints, "Punish me all you like, but Jake's just a little boy he's out there and scared…"

"I understand that Mr. Callen, trust your teammates, they are doing all they can to find him."

"They are not my teammates, I don't have a team." Callen argued trying to reach for the call button.

"Be that as it may, you will be no good to your son if you do not heal."

"I'm no good to my son tied up in this bed either, let me out!" Callen pleaded, his eyes going wide with disbelief as Hetty walked out of the room ignoring his pleas.

* * *

Jake climbed on the bed in the small room as Max walked in with the woman.

He put the water on for coffee, "What's your name?" he asked with a smile.

"Amanda." she replied, "Your son is really cute, how old is he?" she asked.

"Five, nearly six...his mother died recently and then we lost his uncle."

Amanda's eyes went wide, "Oh the poor boy."

Max nodded looking concerned at his son, "I took him out of the hospital a few days ago, he has hysterical amnesia, He thinks his name is Jake, it's actually Marty."

"Marty...oh that's a cute name."

Jake scowled and looked away from the woman.

"I'm in the room down the hall from you, would you both like to join me for dinner?" she asked.

"Marty's a little tired, I'm putting him to bed, but I'll join you." Max said.

Amanda's eyes sparkled as she nodded.

Jake climbed into bed knowing that there was no way the woman would believe him now.

* * *

Three weeks….Three weeks Callen had screamed and yelled and pulled at the restraints until he was hoarse, eventually they had put him into an induced coma on the orders of his next of kin, until he had healed.

Hetty knew Callen would hate her for doing it, but she knew he needed to heal.

She had pulled every string she knew to look for Jake, but nothing...The closest they had gotten was a motel, Kensi and Sam had gone to the room that had Max's card registered to it to find the room empty, save for the body of a blonde woman, a knife stuck in her chest and a small set of bloody fingerprints on her shirt.

"You think Deeks did this?" Kensi asked worried.

Sam didn't know but he looked worried as well, "I dunno, Maybe Giamatti did it, but by those handprints it look like Jake tried to stop it.

Sam suppressed a shudder, he wondered how he would have reacted if it had been either of his children trying to stop the woman from bleeding out.

Neither had wanted to report it to Hetty.

However, they had returned to the mission and told her that the trail seemed to have run cold.

Eric and Nell looked everywhere and Hetty had upset both Sam and Kensi when she'd had Callen moved to a secure facility for healing.

Sam felt bad as Wanda and Bert were calling every other day to find out how things were going, he hated stalling them but in the end he promised to call if he heard anything.

Not wanting to tell Callen that Jake was missing, Hetty had kept him in seclusion. At least once a week he tried escaping, but hadn't made it very far and was then drugged and dragged back to his room.

* * *

Hetty walked in as Callen sat on the floor in the padded safe room.

"Why are you doing this?" he looked up his eyes haunted at her, "Please just let me go…" he pleaded.

"Where would you go Mr. Callen?" She asked.

"To find Jake." He answered without a thought.

"Where?" She asked again.

Callen looked, in truth he didn't know where he would start.

"I need to know you will trust your team to have your back, they are looking for him. I need to know that you will not disappear on me again." She said, she hated what she was putting him through but she had seen the trailer for herself and the report from the doctor had said that he was borderline malnourished. She needed to know that he would not leave again.

'Tough love' they called it, She owed it to Clara to keep an eye on her son. She knew he would probably hate her forever for this, but if it kept him safe until they located the boy, it was worth it.

All day she had remembered the look of utter betrayal on her face as she left. She hadn't seen that look on his face since he was a child and she hoped she'd have good news soon so she never had to see that look again.

"So when can we see him?" Sam asked Hetty as she was leaving for the day.

"Mr. Callen has requested no visitors." She said not looking him in the eye and walking out towards the door.

"But he will want to know what we have found out about Jake?" Sam pushed hoping that his partner would soon forgive him.

"What have you found?" Hetty asked.

"Well...nothing as to where he is, but we know he was in that motel room." Sam capitulated.

"And how will that help him heal?" Hetty asked.

"Dammit, Hetty...he needs hope, if it were me and Aiden was missing….I'd be frantic and I'd wanna know the people I trusted were doing everything to find him." Sam snapped.

"There...that is the difference between you and Mr. Callen, you trust people to look. He doesn't...until he gets it into his head that we will find young Mr. Callen and he can trust us we cannot have him running off and putting himself in danger."

"He's a grown man Hetty, he can make those kinds of decisions himself!" Sam argued.

"Mr. Hanna, I have for many years been looking out for Mr. Callen's welfare, allow me to continue to do so.

Sam looked shocked but turned to go upstairs to continue looking for Jake.

* * *

Jake sat in the corner of another darkened motel room, his clothes were torn and dirty, as was he. He hadn't spoken since that day the lady, Amanda, had tried to save him and the man had stabbed her.

There had been a lot of screaming and Jake had tried to stop all the red stuff from coming out from inside her, but her eyes had turned glassy and she hadn't moved.

" _ **SEE**_!" Max screamed at him, " ** _THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT_**!"

Jake had cried and moved further away, "You talked to her, you brought her here and I  _ **had**_  to kill her."

Max had dragged him out and thrown him into the car and they had driven away from the motel.

Moving every day, they had covered about half the country.

Jake had stopped talking altogether, but he did nod or shake his head as needed and remembered now to look up when Max called him Marty.

Every night he prayed in his head that his daddy would come and find him, but the ball of fear in his stomach that told him that daddy was dead, like the lady got bigger with each passing day. He vaguely remembered the red stuff on his daddy's shirt as he had been pulled away from the place he had called home. If the lady was dead when the red stuff came out, then maybe daddy was too...maybe it was his fault as well.

He flinched as the door to this latest motel room slammed open and a burger bag was thrown at his feet.

"Food!" Max snarled, "Got you something too." he dropped a small pressed tin car he had found at the last house he'd robbed. He figured that maybe the kid would talk if he had something of his own, besides something about the car appealed to him.

Jake looked at the LAPD toy car and reached out with one finger to touch it. Then as Max moved to pull the whiskey out of the brown paper bag he was carrying Jake moved swiftly to eat his food before Max took it and threw it away.

He scrubbed at his face with his filthy shirt sleeve and ate his food as he watched Max start on the drink, hoping he would pass out quickly.

Sometimes when Max was drunk it was like there was another person there, this person was nice, he would talk to Jake for hours, and call him Jake too. He would tell him stories about his daddy and something called NCIS. He liked it when Max went away and D. came back.

Jake watched as Max steadily drank, he fingered his car, pushing it half heartedly from side to side turning it over in his hand and remembering what D had told him about the man who had worked with his daddy who had been an LAPD detective. He'd been called Marty too, the same name as Max called him, but this Marty had been a good man with good friends. When D told him about Marty he'd look sad, like he wanted to do something, or say something but he didn't, he would pat Jake on the head and tell him nicely to go to bed and have sweet dreams.

Jake looked out of the window at the full moon that he could see through the curtain and prayed for his daddy to be ok and for him to find him soon.

He leaned back against the wall and slowly fell asleep.

* * *

In the secure room that Callen was in he was leaning against the bars on the room reaching as much as he could trying to get the bars loose and the putty off the windows to escape, looking up towards the moon he prayed that wherever his son was he was safe and well and sent up a silent promise that daddy was coming soon.

* * *

Sam sat dozing at his desk, after his encounter with Hetty he hadn't gone home, knowing that Michelle nor the kids would want to have him moping about the house. He jumped as his head his the desk and he looked about to see if anyone had seen his lapse.

Seeing the light on he grabbed the coffee off his desk and walked up to ops.

"Eric?" he called.

"No...it's me." Nell replied as she looked up from behind the monitor she was at.

"It's late Nell, why are you still here?" he asked.

"I'm looking for Callen." she said quietly, "I know Hetty is supposed to be looking out for his best interests, but I'm worried. I checked the hospital he was supposed to be in...Sam, I hacked into his medical records, they had him sedated for longer than needed...according to the files I've found his next of kin had him committed for psychiatric evaluation...He's had four break out attempts and they keep drugging him, he's been asking for us Sam. According to his records he's been despondent, Hetty told his doctors that we don't want to see him."

"What the hell?" Sam asked.

Nell stood up tears in her eyes, "I don't know what to do….I mean this is Hetty! She's gotta be doing it in his best interests right?"

Sam pulled her into a hug, "I don't know Nell." he said honestly.

"But I do know that G needs us, and I'm never gonna let him down again." Sam vowed. "Where is he?"

Nell gave him the name of the facility where he was and handed him a box, "I.D and passes, we should go soon, the codes will be changed tomorrow night, I only had an hour to rig these up."

"How did you know I would go?" Sam asked surprised by her actions.

"It's G...Sam. You'd lay down your life for him in a heartbeat, of course you'd go."

Sam nodded, the red-head was right, "Ok so why are you going?" he asked.

"Because it's Callen and he would do it for any of us." She replied as she switched off the monitor and grabbed the fake credentials.

"So what are we waiting for, let's go."

Neither noticed as Hetty watched them leave the mission, he mouth upturned in a small smile, they had taken longer than she planned, but maybe...just maybe it would work.

 


	19. Chapter 19

Nell got in the challenger as Sam started the engine.

"We need to make a stop first." she said, "LAX we have a pickup to make."

"Who?" Sam asked confused.

"Someone Callen really needs and right now and I think one of the few people he will trust." Nell replied

Sam pulled up outside the terminal and smiled as he recognized the man waiting outside.

He got out of the car and walked up to the man shaking his hand warmly.

"Agent Gibbs, it's good to see you again," He smiled.

Gibbs nodded, "It would have been good under better circumstances, Jones tells me you found my boy."

"A few weeks ago, were you not told by Hetty?"

Gibbs handed him his bag and shook his head as he climbed into the passenger seat and nodded at Nell sitting in the back.

Sam climbed in and started driving, "So you weren't informed we had found him, or that Jake has been taken?" He asked again as the challenger peeled away from the terminal.

"No...I talked to Hetty two days ago, she said that you were still looking, I know how good G is at disappearing, but for him not even to contact me for five years I knew something was wrong."

"We found him in a small town called Phelan, he'd been living in a trailer behind a diner, working as a handyman. He hadn't touched any of his savings Gibbs, they've been living below the breadline." Sam said his worry evident in his voice.

"You trying to tell me Callen neglected the kid?!" Gibbs asked incredulously.

Sam shook his head as he took the off-ramp heading to the hospital, "No...more that he gave the kid all he could with what he was earning and neglected himself, he'd lost a lot of weight, but the trailer was geared up and comfy for Jake."

"So how did you find him?" Gibbs asked.

"Deeks found him, he shot him as he took Jake from the diner. The local LEO's took G's fingerprints and he came up on our watch list."

Gibbs said nothing for a moment and then turned to look at Sam, "So...This was when?"

"About a month ago." Sam said as they pulled up outside the hospital.

"Hetty should have told me, I'm his next of kin and emergency contact." Gibbs growled.

"No...you're not," Nell interjected, "Hetty had herself placed as Callen's next of kin after he was shot, something about convincing him that she was closer in case of emergency...and...well, she also told him that if he died, you might not be able to cope...something about a loss you had suffered?"

"Damn!" Gibbs hit the dash of the car and Sam shot him a look of annoyance.

Gibbs climbed out and slammed the door.

* * *

"I have backstopped I.D's for us all," Nell said handing the identifications out.

Gibbs ignored her and walked towards the main doors fishing out his real credentials.

"NCIS I want to see G. Callen and his doctor right now!" he growled.

Sam shot Nell a look and they walked in behind him.

The security man behind the desk took one look at Gibbs and Sam and blanched, "I'll get Dr. Morris now." he gulped. "He's on call tonight."

Gibbs gave a curt nod and walked to the doors looking into the facility as an alarm sounded and a number of well built men ran past them.

The trio waited as the hubbub died down and a frazzled looking doctor walked up to them.

"Agent Gibbs?" he asked.

All three stood and Gibbs nodded, "Dr. Morris, I'm sorry for the delay, we had another incident."

Gibbs raised an eyebrow but said nothing and waited.

"I hear you've come a long way to talk about my patient, please won't you all come into my office."

They sat down, Gibbs moving to allow Nell to sit first. The doctor got his file out and sat behind his desk.

"Agent Gibbs, Normally I wouldn't talk to you about a patient, but Mr. Callen has been...asking for you."

"Why is he here is he hurt?" Sam asked.

"No...I mean his physical injuries healed a while ago, but he is a danger to himself, he keeps trying to break out, we were told by his next of kin that he is delusional, he keeps thinking he has a son in danger. We have been told there is no child and there is nothing on Mr, Callen's records to suggest he's ever been a father."

"But he does have a son, one who is missing."

Dr. Morris's face dropped in shock.

"Miss Lange assured us there was no child in danger, that Mr. Callen was projecting his own traumatic childhood onto his current life." He stood up, "In light of this...I think we can release Mr. Callen to you, although I will have to report myself and Miss Lange to the authorities."

"We are the authorities, we will be conducting an investigation, but for now we must insist on seeing Mr. Callen." Nell said.

"Of course...You must understand, he's been combative and he's been on some potent medications...he's…"

"We'll see for ourselves, we want to see him now!" Sam snapped.

The doctor shifted uncomfortably, "Very well, however you must understand…"

"Just take us to him, now." Gibbs snapped, leaving no room for argument.

Dr. Morris gulped and lead them down the hall to a row of rooms with locks on the doors.

"Please, you have to understand we didn't know…" Morris said as he unlocked the door.

* * *

Gibbs all but barrelled past him. "Callen?" He called to the darkened room.

A dark figure moved in the corner and barrelled at him, "G...it's me...stop!" Gibbs called to the figure who was 'drunkenly' pummelling him with his fists trying to get past to the door.

"Lemme go...please...lemme go…" Callen slurred. "Please...Jake's real...he is real...he needs me…"

Callen slumped as the sedative Dr. Morris had injected him with about ten minutes earlier took effect.

As he went down Callen scrambled away to the corner of the room, mumbling to himself. "Jake is real, he  _ **is**_ real...needs me…"

Gibbs walked over and touched him gently.

"Noooooo no more drugs...please…" Callen groaned.

Nell placed a hand over her mouth stifling a gasp as his shirt moved up and the mottled bruising on his torso became evident.

"What the hell!" Sam exclaimed.

"He needed to be restrained, we thought he was delusional." Dr Morris argued.

Gibbs wrapped his arms around Callen pulling him in close. "Shh….shh. it's ok I'm here now, you're safe son."

"Dad?" Callen blinked a few times and pulled Gibbs to him, "You shouldn't be here, they'll hurt you...she said...they would hurt you...save Jake please…" He lay his head against Gibbs' chest and finally passed out.

"Get me a wheelchair." Gibbs ordered, "He's leaving with me now!"

"He's sedated, I can't in all…" Morris stopped as all three of them glared at him. "I'll get you a chair." He said and hurriedly left the room.

"Grab his stuff." Sam said to Nell who found a bag with a few wash items in but no clothes.

Dr Morris came back with a wheelchair and a bag, "We had to take his clothes...I'm sorry again I really didn't know."

Sam and Gibbs moved Callen into the wheelchair and Nell grabbed his bag and the group walked out of the hospital.

Pulling up to a motel, Nell booked them in as Sam and Gibbs carried the unconscious Callen into the room and placed him on the bed.

"Right." Gibbs said as he pulled the cover over his boy, "I wanna know what the hell has been going on, what the hell is Hetty playing at?"

* * *

Jake woke up as Max dragged him off the bed.

"Get up!" he snapped, "We've got to move."

Jake looked up, it was still dark outside, he knew this meant that Max had run out of money again or had hurt someone. He nodded and grabbed his clothes. Picking up his car he sleepily followed him out to the car.

"Not that one." Max snapped.

Jake looked confused until Max broke into another car a few spaces down, "Come on...move…" Max hissed.

Jake ran and climbed in the car and as had been the norm for a while now he climbed over the back seat and sat on the floor behind the drivers seat so he couldn't be seen on the cameras or by anyone passing by.

Although he was sad his daddy wouldn't find him on the camera he was glad that other people wouldn't see him. He didn't want anyone else to be hurt like the Amanda lady was.

Max pulled out of the parking lot and Jake wedged himself as far down as he could so that he wasn't thrown about too much by Max's driving.

Jake's stomach rumbled as the sun started to rise.

"I'll stop for food soon." Max said as he drove away, "I wanna get a few hours between the motel and where we are going, I have someone to meet, you had better be quiet while I meet this guy." Max laughed, "Who am I kidding, Callen made you defective, you don't talk at all do ya."

Jake shrank back as Max laughed at him. He wasn't sure who Callen was but he knew he hadn't hurt him anywhere near as much as this man who said he was his daddy did.

Max whacked the radio up to a deafening level, laughed as Jake covered his ears, and kept on driving.

* * *

Callen stirred as the drugs left his system, he could hear low talking in the background and he stilled wondering if it was more doctors or worse... _her._

"I've got his stuff here." Nell said softly and stopped as she noticed Callen's breathing change. "I think he's awake."

Gibbs looked over, Callen was unusually still.

"G?" Sam said looking at him.

Callen shot off the bed heading in the direction that last night held a door. He stopped for a moment confused as the door wasn't there.

"G!..." Sam wrapped his arms around Callen trying to calm him and reassure him he was safe.

Callen started fighting with all his strength, which admittedly wasn't a lot.

"Lemme go...I'm not crazy...I have to save my son!" he screamed.

"Callen...G…"Nell said. "It's us…"

"Callen." Gibbs walked across the room and headslapped G gently.

"Gibbs?" Callen said stopping and focusing on them for the first time.

"Yeah, I'm here...you're not in there anymore."

Callen sank to his knees as Gibbs wrapped his arms around his foster son, "I'm...not...but...Hetty, she said….why are you here?" Callen asked pushing Gibbs at arms length, "Why are you all here, you hate me?"

"No!"Nell gasped shocked.

"Hetty said, you didn't want to see me...I know it was my fault, I left because I was hurt about what you said, I knew I was doing what Deeks asked...but she said that I had been injured and that you didn't want to help me find Jake."

"That's not true, we've been looking non stop since the day we found you. we haven't found him yet though." Sam admitted.

"So why…" Callen started but he really wasn't sure he wanted an answer to the question.

"We didn't get you out because we didn't know," Sam said bluntly.

"She wouldn't let me go...they told me I was lying, I was crazy...I'm not crazy am I? Jake is real...he is...I can't love someone this much and hurt for him so much and him not be real...can I?" Callen asked.

"No son…" Gibbs said, "Jake is real, he is your son and now you need to trust us to get him back."

"Dad?" Callen looked at Gibbs.

Gibbs smiled, "Yeah...I know you were hurt son, but we are here now, will you trust us to help you find Jake?"

Callen nodded, and then grabbed his head, "Ow, what did they give me my head is killing me."

Sam handed him a bottle of water, "Drink this and take these." He handed him two pills.

Callen drank the water but eyed the pills warily, "What are they?" he asked poking at them.

"Advil...Just take them G," Sam sighed.

Callen shot them an evil look and turned away taking another sip of the water, "I'm hungry."

He looked around and grabbed a mug, pouring some coffee and a few spoonfuls of sugar he made himself a drink and sat tiredly in the small armchair in the corner of the room.

"You need more than that." Gibbs said, "You need real food."

Callen shook his head, "The food's for Jake...I mean…" he stopped as he realized again that Jake wasn't there, "I'm not hungry...I just...I don't even know if Jake is eating, I can't waste time, I need to get out of these!" he snapped pulling on the scrubs the hospital had had him in and he was still wearing, "I need to get some clothes on and go find my boy."

He grabbed his bag and headed into the bathroom, locking the door he sank behind it for a second trying to get a hold on his emotions, he started up the shower and stood under it allowing the water to wash off the hospital smell and allowing his emotions free reign while no one could see or judge him.

In the next room, Gibbs, Nell and Sam looked at each other concerned as they heard the sobs the water couldn't cover, each vowing never to mention it.

"I'll get some food and check in with Eric." Nell said as she left the room. She knew if he walked out now she would be sobbing right along with him.

 


	20. Chapter 20

Nell stopped dead as she walked around the corner, the diner just coming into view.

She couldn't believe what she was seeing, right in front of her was Deeks and Jake.

"Move!" Max snapped and dragged Jake out by his collar.

Jake stumbled and fell onto the asphalt and dropped his car.

" _ **MARTY**_!" Max shouted, " _ **Move it**_!"

Jake tried to go back to get his car, but Max grabbed him roughly by the arm and pulled him along towards the diner.

Jake shot a sad look back at his car and hoped that it would be there when they came back.

Nell felt in her pocket hoping she had her phone, she cursed as she realized that she had actually left her phone in the motel room so she would have had to go back for it anyway.

She stopped as her hand clasped over a handful of round objects, and she smiled, the first one she took and slipped in the wheel well of the car.

Turning quickly she picked up the tin car quickly pried one side loose and slipped another round disc inside and fastened it again.

"Excuse me!" she called running after the pair.

Max turned and narrowed his eyes at the small woman hurrying after them.

"What?" He snarled.

"Your son dropped his toy car." Nell said.

Max let go of Jake, "Get it now, clumsy!" Max pushed Jake towards Nell.

"There ya go," Nell said brightly handing the toy to Jake.

Jake looked at her, he gave her a small smile.

Nell smiled back and Jake ran up to Max who grabbed him by the arm and cuffed him around the head scolding him for dropping the toy.

Nell flinched as Max's hand connected with Jake's head, Jake never said a word as they entered the diner.

Max watched as the small red-head looked through her pockets, 'probably looking for her wallet' he thought as she took her key out and headed back to the motel, then he turned to the server and ordered breakfast for himself and a stack of pancakes for Jake.

* * *

Nell walked calmly as she could away from the diner until she rounded the corner, then she broke into a run.

Callen walked out of the bathroom, his hair freshly cut and clean shaven. He dropped the blue hospital scrubs in the trash and helped himself to more coffee.

"You look like you again G." Sam said with a smile.

He gave a curt nod but didn't say anything.

"Do you have anything on Jake?" Callen asked swallowing the bitter coffee down.

"Nell's gone to call Eric and find out." Sam said.

Callen snorted derisively, "Sure she has….she'll have trouble, she's left her cell phone here."

Nell burst in through the door, "He's here!" she yelled breathlessly.

Sam turned and held her by the arms, "Breathe Nell, who's here?"

"Jake and Deeks." she coughed.

Callen laughed, "Really, you expect me to believe that they have just turned up...This is a set up isn't it, you're holding me here until  _she_  can turn up."

He slammed the coffee cup down on the counter as Sam turned to him.

"Dammit G, Hetty doesn't even know we are here, why do you think we are in a motel room rather than my house, or your house?"

"She...doesn't?" Callen asked.

All three of them shook their heads.

"So...he's really…."Callen trailed off as her words of earlier sunk in, "Where! Where is he!"

"Diner...but...CALLEN!" She called as he ran barefoot out of the door looking for the diner.

Sam grabbed his gun and he, Gibbs and Nell followed him, Nell picking up Callen's boots for him.

"Put these on." she said roughly shoving the Blundstone boots into his hands.

"Which way?" he asked ignoring the boots and trying to find his son.

"This way…" Nell said pointing to the left.

They got around the corner just as Max was peeling out of the parking lot.

"NO!" Callen screamed as he saw Jake's face looking back at him through the rear window.

Jake placed his hand on the window as he saw his daddy running around the corner.

He tried to call out, but nothing would come out of his mouth, he cried silent tears as Max screeched around the corner and away.

* * *

Callen ran barefoot along the pavement, small chips tearing up his feet until he could run no more, he collapsed to the floor as Gibbs and Sam caught up with him.

They helped get Callen up and carried him between them to the motel room.

"I can't keep losing him, he looked terrified and hungry, Deeks is killing him!"

Gibbs sat him on the chair and nodded to Sam to get the first aid box for Callen's feet.

"You shouldn't have stopped for me, you should have followed him, you let him get away!" Callen snapped at Sam.

"No he didn't." Nell said moving to stand between the two men. "I put a tracker on Deeks' car."

"Nell, you know he's going to ditch the car!" Callen argued, he stopped as Nell smiled.

"Yeah, probably, which is why I put a tracker on Jake too." she grinned.

"I could kiss you." Callen said.

Nell made a face, "Ew." she reached over for her bag and pulled her laptop out. "I have a tracking program on here." she said bringing up the program.

"Why did you have trackers on you?" Gibbs asked,

Nell grinned, "Are you kidding, with the way Callen keeps running, I figured we might need one on him."

Callen shot her a disgruntled look, but had to admit that she was probably right.

"So...you aren't here working for Hetty?" he said finally understanding.

"We are here for you G," Sam said, "I made a mistake...a rash moment, I never meant for you to be so hurt that you and your son would leave. I looked for you but you didn't leave any sign."

Callen looked at his ex-partner, there was no sign of deception, none of the little tells that G knew so well.

"I got them…" Nell said, "He's stopped, they are in another motel."

"We aren't losing them." Callen said, he tried to stand and winced as the cuts on his feet forced him to fall back onto the chair.

"We won't lose them Callen, Nell's good at what she does, you know that." Gibbs said, "Trust them."

Callen let out a deep breath he hadn't realized he was holding in.

He knew the only way he could find his son was to trust them.

He nodded. "I'll try."

Sam smiled, "That's all I ask G."

* * *

Gibbs finished bandaging up G's feet and helped him get his boots on.

"OK, so we need weapons." Sam said as he came in carrying a duffle full of arms.

"No...I mean, I don't want anyone hurt, you might hit Jake." Callen said worried, "It had been a long time since he had properly carried a gun and with the drugs in his system he didn't trust his aim.

"You take your gun, and a taser, you never know G, better to have it and not use it hey." Sam coaxed.

Callen nodded, "I will need stuff for Jake, I don't have his things."

"I still have the bag you packed for him in the trunk." Sam told him.

Gibbs looked over at Nell, "We are going on a field trip." he said looking at her.

"We are?" She asked.

"I want to see what we are up against, before we go in all guns blazing so to speak, I want to see if there is a safe way of getting Jake out."

"I need to go!" Callen argued.

Gibbs moved and crouched down in front of Callen, "Callen...not this time, we are just going to look, to make sure it's safe to get him out. Could you handle seeing him and having to leave?" Gibbs asked.

"Would you sit here if it had been Kelly in there?" Callen snapped and instantly felt guilty.

Gibbs looked saddened for a moment at the thought of his deceased daughter, "I would have to, I would do if it were you and you are as much my son as if you were flesh and blood...you know that don't you?"

Callen nodded his eyes downcast, "I'm sorry Gibbs….I didn't mean…"

"Yes you did, but it's ok, you're my son and you are hurting...You need to stay here, Nell and I will handle it, I need you to get the last of the medications out of your system. Get yourself ready for when your son needs you." Gibbs said, he pulled Callen into a hug and whispered into his ear.

Pulling back with tears in his eyes Callen looked at Gibbs his face full of hope, "Really?" he breathed.

Gibbs smiled, "Really."

Callen swiped at his eyes, "Ok, dad…" he smirked a bit, "Go...find out what you can and as soon as it's safe we get my boy."

Sam watched as Gibbs and Nell left.

"What did he say?" Sam asked.

Callen smiled, but said nothing.

* * *

Jake hit the side of the wall with a thud, soundless tears fell, he wanted to scream but his mouth didn't work.

Max hadn't seen what he had seen as they had pulled out of the parking lot of the diner, he knew he couldn't be wrong, he had seen his daddy.

He had been with the nice lady who had given him his car back, but his daddy hadn't been able to get to him.

Max slammed the door and threw their bags onto the bed.

"What the hell did you think you were playing at?!" Max yelled.

Jake moved away scrambling to the corner. "You got that woman's attention, you were trying to sneak away weren't you?"

Jake blinked his eyes wide and scared he frantically shook his head.

"You want I should go back and find her, maybe sort her like I did that Amanda lady...maybe I should bring her here...it's about time you stepped up to the plate...you could deal with her make daddy proud."

Jake shook his head rapidly hoping that Max wouldn't make him do that.

"You're saying no to  _me_!" Max snarled.

Jake whimpered and moved further into the corner.

Max grabbed him by the collar and lifted him into the air, his small legs kicking in terror as he was lifted from the ground.

" _ **YOU WILL ANSWER ME**_!" Max screamed in his face.

Jake opened his mouth trying to answer, but he still hadn't found his voice that had been scared away.

Max backhanded Jake and threw him on the bed, "Useless child!" he spat and rubbed the back of his head.

Deeks pounded on the cell he was locked in, "STOP IT!" he screamed, "He's your son! stop hurting him!"

Max shook his head, "Annoying gnat!" he said aloud. Jake thinking Max was still talking about him crawled away again his hand on his sore eye.

"You can't do this, you are not your father, Sara would hate what you have become!" Deeks yelled to himself.

Max walked over to his bag and pulled out a bottle of whiskey. "Shut up gnat…" he said opening the bottle and taking a large drink.

Jake moved to the corner of the room and curled up his head in his arms and silently cried himself to sleep.

* * *

Nell and Gibbs watched for the better part of a day, no one entered or left the room.

Gibbs pulled the maid aside, "I need your help." he said and outlined a plan to her, explaining that they were Federal Agents and they were watching the man in the room.

Listening and nodding the woman agreed to help.

Gibbs moved to what would be a good position and waited as the maid walked to the door.

"Sir...Towels…!" she called as she knocked.

The curtains twitched and the door opened.

"Go away." Max snarled.

"Sorry Sir, but I haven't changed your towels, I need to swap them and clean the bathroom." she argued, "It's my job, my boss will fire me."

Max sighed and opened the door, "Be quick." He snapped.

Jake flinched as the light from outside hit his eyes and he opened them.

She shot a look at the boy who refused to meet her eyes.

She walked straight through to the bathroom and changed the towel. "I am sorry for the inconvenience sir." she said quickly and left.

Rounding the corner she stopped and motioned to Gibbs to come over, "There is a man and a child in there, but only one man...I think the child may be hurt, he's definitely scared… I'm sorry, I didn't see any guns...or anything...I hope I helped."

Gibbs nodded, "You did great thank you?"

She nodded and hurried on to her break, probably, Gibbs thought to gossip with the woman in the office..

He turned and went back to Nell, "You're right, it's just Deeks and Jake in the room, we will need to get the local LEO's onside and have Callen and Sam to back us up."

Nell nodded and got on the phone to Sam as Gibbs called the local sheriff.

Sam put the phone down and looked over at Callen, "You ready G, we're going to get your boy." he said.

Callen stood up and put his gun in the back of his waistband, comforting himself with the familiar weight, soon one way or another this would be over.

 


	21. Chapter 21

Max awoke and looked over to the other side of the room.

"Still there?" he drawled sarcastically at the kid.

Jake looked up and him and nodded. He hadn't moved from the spot he had been in when the maid had walked in the room and he was desperate to use the toilet.

Jake shot a look towards the bathroom.

Max growled, "Fine...go ahead, but don't you dare shut that door."

Jake nodded, he ran into the bathroom and pulled the door up just short of shut and took care of his business. He quickly washed his hands and tried to wash his face but his eye hurt, he looked in the mirror and winced at the large purple bruise that was still growing to cover his right eye.

"MARTY!" Max shouted and he jumped.

He ran out to the main room.

"You took too long." Max grumbled, "I need food." He stopped and looked at Jake's face taking in the large bruise evident on there.

"You ain't coming out looking like that, you stay there I'll go and get myself something. You open that door to anyone but me and I swear you'll be the death of someone."

Jake's eyes widened and he nodded fervently.

Max pulled his boots on and looked as Jake reached up to touch his face.

"That hurt?"

Jake nodded and Max picked up the bottle he had been drinking from.

"Drink this." he lifted the drink to the boys lips.

Jake shook his head, it smelled funny and he didn't like it.

" _ **DRINK IT!**_ " Max snarled and pinched the boy's nose so he swallowed roughly choking on the foul smelling liquid.

Tears poured down Jake's face.

"And the rest, it'll make the pain go away." Max said as he moved to gently rub Jake's back.

Jake had to admit as his head went funny, the pain was going away and it was nice, Max rubbing his back like that.

Soon his eyes closed and he fell asleep.

Max threw the boy's unconscious body on the bed.

"NO!" Deeks screamed inside Max's head, "You'll kill him!"

Max sighed and for a second reached and checked the boy's pulse. "He'll sleep it off gnat, stop bothering me, I need food."

He pulled on his coat and walked out locking the door and leaving the inebriated child on the bed.

* * *

Max smiled as he walked into the diner and ordered himself a large breakfast and coffee, grabbing a newspaper someone had left in the booth he settled in for a nice leisurely breakfast.

Gibbs had to hold Callen back as he watched Max walk out of the room and lock the door.

"Where is he? Where's Jake?"He asked worried.

"I don't know, let's just see where he goes." Gibbs said.

Sam walked up having walked around the building and walked past the diner.

"He's sitting in a booth eating his breakfast, there is no sign of Jake."

"I have to go in….I have to see if Jake is ok." Callen said.

Sam nodded at Callen once and he wrenched his arm away from Gibbs and ran over to the door.

He knocked but there were no sounds of movement inside.

"Gibbs, you got your lock pick kit?" Callen asked.

Gibbs reached into his pocket and pulled out the small brown leather pouch.

Within moments Callen had the door open and his gun at the ready.

Opening the door he stopped at the sight in front of him and dropped his gun.

"Jake?" he breathed, he took a shaky step forward. "Jake!"

He dropped to his knees beside the prone body, reaching his hand out he tentatively touched the side of the boy's neck.

"He has a pulse but it's thready, he needs an ambulance."

Gibbs nodded to Nell, "Call them, Stay with Jake and Callen, Sam and I will deal with Deeks."

"No...I want him, he's gonna pay." Callen growled while holding Jake's head in his lap.

"Jake needs you, you wanna leave him now?" Gibbs pushed knowing that Callen would want to be there for his boy first.

Jake opened his mouth as if he wanted to groan but nothing came out.

Callen took a whiff of his breath, "He's drunk, my son is drunk!" he exclaimed in disbelief.

"It's ok Jake...Daddy's here." Callen said and held his son protectively, "Find him Gibbs, make him pay for this."

Gibbs nodded and he and Sam headed to the diner.

Max was so absorbed he didn't even notice as the two men entered, afterall he was far enough away that on one could find him.

So he was surprised when the two men sat either side of him in the booth.

"Don't cause a scene, we will shoot you unless you come with us quietly." The older man said.

"You have no idea who you are dealing with." Max growled, "you might want to walk away now."

Sam smiled, "Not a chance Deeks."

"I am not Deeks, the name is Max, Max Giamatti, you got the wrong guy." he said feigning innocence.

Gibbs placed his badge on the table, "There are children in here Giamatti, don't cause a scene, just walk out quietly."

"Gonna finish my coffee first." Max said taking a sip of his drink.

Sam looked up as the server walked over with a jug of coffee and flashed his badge and shook his head.

She walked away worried but said nothing.

"Finish your coffee then we are leaving," Gibbs said quietly.

They looked up as a kid at another table squealed with laughter. Gibbs' hand tightened on Max's arm as he shifted.

"Don't." he reminded the younger man.

Max took his arm away from Gibbs.

"Ok you've finished." Sam told him, "We are leaving now."

Max laughed, "You didn't even ask about the boy?"

It was Gibbs' turn to smile, "See those ambulances' one of those is for him. He's gonna be fine."

They walked him out of the door Max feeling Gibbs' gun in his back.

* * *

Callen tensed as the door knocked.

"Paramedic's!" A man's voice came from behind the door.

Nell opened it and let the two man team in.

"Hey, I'm Toby, this is Oz, What's the problem?" Toby asked with a smile.

"Nell Jones, NCIS." she said identifying herself, "This is Callen and his son Jake. Jake was a kidnap victim, we just recovered him. We think he may have alcohol poisoning." she told them.

Toby smiled as he sat next to Callen on the bed.

"Hey Jake, my name is Toby I'm here with your dad ok, I'm gonna look at you and see what I can do to make you better."

Callen looked up at him.

"He can't hear you, he's unconscious."

Toby smiled, "He may be unconscious but he might be able to hear, and from what your friend said he's been through a rough time and I don't want to scare him." He explained.

"Thank you." Callen relaxed a bit and Nell smiled realizing that Toby's tactics were calming Jake's father just as much as Jake.

Callen moved back and let Toby and Oz put Jake on the gurney and he followed them to the ambulance, "I'm coming too." He said climbing in behind Toby, "I can't lose him again."

Toby nodded and moved to let the other man inside.

"I'm coming as well, they are in protective custody." Nell said hoping that Toby wouldn't call her out on it.

He smiled and with that they closed the door and headed off to the hospital.

* * *

It smelled funny and there was strange beeping and he hurt, he hurt really really bad.

He wanted to open his eyes, but he was worried that the mean man who kept calling himself daddy was out there. If he could just be quiet for a bit longer, maybe he would be left alone again.

"How's he doing?" Nell asked.

Jake stiffened, the mean daddy had brought a lady back again?

Tears slipped silently from the corner of his eyes as he remembered what happened to the last lady Max had brought back.

"Better, I think...he's still asleep." Callen said.

They had been there three days and Callen hadn't left his son side the entire time. he had survived on the food and coffee that Nell, Sam and Gibbs had brought into him.

He had insisted that no one but the three of them be given access to the room for now, he knew that Kensi and Eric would be upset but they would understand and he didn't give a damn what Hetty thought about it.

Jake opened one eye slowly….he knew that voice….

He looked around the brightly painted room.

_**DADDY!** _

He opened his mouth but still nothing came out, he turned his head and reached out with one hand to poke his father in the shoulder.

He was really here...and the other? He looked around, there was no sign of him.

"Hey buddy?" Callen said his voice cracking with relief, "How are you feeling?"

Jake sat up slowly, tears rolling down his face, his daddy was back.

He smiled from ear to ear.

More than anything he wanted to tell his daddy what had happened, how much he hurt, how glad he was to be back.

He opened his mouth, but still….nothing came out.


	22. Chapter 22

Callen looked over at Nell with a look of barely disguised panic.

"Jake...Jake son, it's Daddy...can you talk?" He asked.

Jake opened his mouth a few times and then shook his head.

Callen had a sick feeling of dread wash over him and settle in his solar plexus. From his own childhood he remembered kids being this traumatized, he himself had been one of them.

Nell caught Callen's eye and nodded to his unspoken request for a doctor and went in search of him.

"Jake...it's ok son, you're safe now. I'm gonna ask you some yes or no questions so you only have to nod or shake your head, you ok with that?"

Jake nodded and buried his head in his father's side.

"Did the man that you were with...Max...did he hurt you?" Callen asked.

Under his arm he watched as Jake nodded not moving his face from the safety of his father's chest. Callen's gut clenched and he bit his inside lip.

"Did he touch you...anywhere he shouldn't?" Callen held his breath awaiting the reply.

Jake shook his head and Callen let out a huge breath he had been holding and rolled his eyes to the ceiling in a silent prayer of thanks.

"Do you know what happened to the other man who was with you?" Callen asked.

Jake shuddered and buried his face deeper into his father's chest. With a start Callen realized he was silently sobbing.

He rubbed his hand up and down his son's back making comforting noises until Jake fell asleep in his arms.

* * *

Nell and the doctor walked in to see him slowly rocking his son against his chest, whispering promises that he would never leave and that Jake was safe.

She smiled and the doctor walked quietly up to the father and knelt down,

mindful of the sleeping child he kept his voice low."Miss Jones said you wanted to talk to me?" he asked.

"Jake...he can't talk did he...is there something wrong?" Callen asked.

"I would say it's shock, I understand he was kidnapped?"

Callen nodded.

"In fact from what I've been told you were both put through the wringer, I wonder if I may examine you as well, I talked to your last doctor he said he was still concerned about your wounds."

Callen looked worried but Nell smiled at him reassuringly, "It's ok G, let him look, you won't have to leave Jake."

Callen nodded and shifted slightly not waking his son, "It's a bit sore but it feels ok."

The doctor looked at it and smiled, "It's healing well, As for Jake I have a child therapist that I would like to work with him, he's not well known and he treats adults more than children now, but he is the best in his field, his name is Dr, Getz I asked him to consult if you would be agreeable to that?"

Callen jumped and quickly stilled as Jake shifted in his arms, "Nate Getz?" he asked.

The doctor smiled, "You've heard of him, that's good. He used to be a first rate child psychologist, then he was moved to work for the government...I talk to him occasionally, but I think he would be perfect for your son Mr. Carter."

Callen smiled, "Me too, when is he getting here?"

There was a knock on the door and a familiar face peeked around the corner, "I'm looking for a Jake Carter?"

Callen grinned, "Hey Nate."

"Callen?" Nate looked shocked.

Callen smiled, genuinely pleased to see his friend, "Hey this is Jake." he said as his son stirred and woke up and looked fearfully at the new man in the room.

Callen looked down and smiled stroking Jakes hair comfortingly, "It's ok sprout, this is Nate, he's daddy's friend I've known him for a long long time."

Nate smiled and crouched down so he didn't look so big and imposing, "Hey Jake, my name is Nate. I hear your voice got scared away and you need some help finding it." he said softly.

Jake looked at his father and nodded.

Nate looked thoughtfully around the room, "Did you check under the bed?" he asked.

Jake shook his head.

Nate got on his hands and knees and looked under the bed.

"Nope….wait….is that it?" he pointed to the back corner.

Jake looked at him curiously and slowly climbed off his father's lap to go and look.

He looked at Nate like he was stupid and shook his head, all the adults resisted the urge to laugh.

Jake looked in the closet and behind the curtain like Nate told him, then he stopped and Nate looked at him.

"Do you know where it is?" Nate asked.

Jake pointed at Callen.

"Daddy has it?" Nate asked.

Jake nodded.

Nate looked at Callen, "G? You have Jakes voice in there?" he walked over and took out his penlight and with a wink examined G's eyes.

Jake shook his head and climbed onto his father's lap and wrapped his arms around him, "It's here." Jake whispered.

Nate grinned, "You found it."

Jake smiled, "Daddy kept it safe." he couldn't talk any louder than a whisper but it was there.

"Daddies do that." Nate agreed, "Do you think now that you've got it back you could talk to me?" he asked.

Jake leaned towards his dad and whispered in his ear.

Callen hugged him tight, "Yes Mr. Nate is nice and he won't take you away. Listen how about you stay here with Mr Nate and I go with Nell for something to eat, I'll bring you back a present. He reached into his bag and took out a plushie and handed it to him.

"SULLY!" Jake said in a harsh whisper and hugged the plushie monster to his chest.

"He looked after me while you were gone and he'll look after you I'll be back soon."

"Promise daddy?" Jake said.

Callen smiled and nodded, "Really soon." he turned and walked out of the room.

* * *

As soon as the door was shut Callen crumpled down the wall.

"Callen?" Nell asked keeping her voice down.

"He's safe, he's really safe...and he's gonna be ok?" he asked.

Nell nodded, "He is."

"But...Deeks?" Callen asked concerned for his son.

Gibbs and Sam took Deeks into custody, he's been sent to a psychiatric unit for assessment.

"Where?" Callen snapped.

"Here...but the unit is secure Deeks can't get out."

"I need to see him." Callen said, he turned Nell to face him, "Please it's important."

Nell wasn't sure, but she nodded, "I'll call Gibbs and see what he says."

Callen nodded and stood as Nell went to make the call.

As soon as she had picked up her phone and turned her back Callen slipped out and headed for the hospital's main reception.

* * *

An old man looked up as Callen approached his desk.

"This is a secure unit." He said.

Callen took out and ID, "Dr. Nate Getz, I have a patient here. Martin A Deeks."

"Ah yes," The man squinted as he looked at the ID. "Go on in Doctor. Room 118."

Deeks was restrained, but medicated as Callen entered the room and stood for a moment looking at his former friend.

"What did you do to my son?" Callen growled.

Deeks turned his head.

"Callen...you took my...my son...I want him back."

"He's my son, you signed him over to me, then you took him and hurt him. You nearly killed him with alcohol poisoning, you scared him so much that he couldn't speak."

Deeks pulled against the restraints, "I will get out of here Callen, I will take my son back and I'll kill you!" Max screamed.

Callen wanted to put his hands around his throat and strangle him, to watch as the light left his eyes and the danger to his son was eliminated.

But Deeks had been a friend and Deeks was in there somewhere.

"Deeks many people want you back, you need to work with the doctors, not just for me, but for Jake, I will always be his daddy, but maybe one day you can be a part of his life too and he can look on you without fear."

"Not like him…." Deeks said.

"Then don't be, Deeks. Don't be Max, he's too much like your father, you are better than them."

A tear escaped, "Callen...please...I don't want to be...I couldn't stop him, he's too strong."

"No Marty, you are the strong one, you faced your father at eleven, you became a good man, you tried to help your mother, you did your best for your son. You are Good. Hold onto that and get better."

Callen couldn't stand being there but he knew that he needed to be able to one day tell Jake that he had made his peace with the man.

As Callen turned to leave, Deeks started to slip again, "Callen….Callen...tell him...tell him I'm sorry, I love him...I…...I'm gonna get out of here and kill you!" Max took over and started screaming obscenities at Callen as he closed the door.

"I'll tell him Deeks." Callen said quietly and headed out the exit.

He rounded a corner and walked right into Gibbs and Sam, "Where have you been?" Gibbs asked looking at Callen concerned.

"Making my peace." Callen said and headed back to where his son was waiting.


	23. Chapter 23

Callen walked into Jake's room and smiled at the sight of his son sleeping, his arm wrapped around the toy monster he had been given earlier.

Nate looked up from the file he was reading.

"You done with it Callen?" he asked holding out his hand.

Sheepishly Callen handed Nate back his credentials. "They knew I wasn't you?" Callen asked.

Nate nodded, "You were watched the whole visit. Both for your protection and for Marty's."

"I needed to do it Nate!" Callen argued keeping his voice low.

"I know Callen, that's why we let you continue." Nate said waving his hand towards a chair,

"I needed to make my peace with him Nate, Max is responsible for what he did to my boy, but Deeks will always be Jake's father, even though I'm his dad. One day Jake may ask me and I want to be able to look him in the eye and let him know that we did all we could for his father." Callen reached over and took a drink from the styrofoam cup Nate handed him, "Jake deserves to have answers to his questions."

"The answers you never had?" Nate poked as Callen looked away and nodded.

"I spent my whole life searching for who I was, Jake doesn't need that, he is the son of Sara Giamatti and Marty Deeks. I am certain that they both loved him. He needs to know that it wasn't his fault that he couldn't stay with his biological parents and that I love him just as if he were my own." Callen looked and Jake was still sleeping soundly. "Do you think he'll come out of this ok?"

Nate nodded, "He will have nightmares for a while, questions and fears, but i will be here as long as you both need me to get you through it."

"Thank you." Callen said fervently.

"You are family, besides Hetty is footing the bill." He smiled.

Instantly Callen's face changed. "I'll find you the money Nate, or you can just leave."

He stood up and walked to the window, "We don't need anything from her."

Nate smiled.

"You don't want Hetty to pay for it?" He asked innocently.

"I don't want her near me...ever again, I'm done being betrayed by her."

"She betrayed you?" Nate asked, already having talked to Hetty he knew her side of the story. He hadn't agreed with her methods, but he knew that she knew Callen better than anyone.

Callen looked over at his son's sleeping form, "Not here." he hissed and he motioned to the door.

As he opened it he noticed Gibbs and Nell walking down the hallway talking.

"Jethro, can you watch Jake. I need to go and talk to Nate." Callen told him.

Gibbs nodded, "You take all the time you need." he replied.

* * *

Callen stalked off down the hallway, Nate following until they came to a small walled garden.

Noticing it was empty he walked out through the door into the garden and waited until he heard Nate close the door behind him.

"What happened?" Nate asked and sat on a bench as Callen started to pace.

"How much do you know, about Hetty and me?" Callen asked.

"I know you're close, she cares a lot about you like a mother." Nate replied, he stopped as Callen scoffed.

"Huh, yeah...mother…" He looked away but Nate could see the pain in his eyes.

"Callen?"

"She was my mother...my savior, the nearest thing I had to an adult I trusted in my childhood. She saved me from the system when I was 15, I had a room in her house, granted she was hardly ever there, as she … well I thought she was working, but maybe she was in one of her other homes looking after Grace and Lauren."

"Grace and Lauren?"

"Grace Stevens and Lauren Hunter, both fostered by Hetty as well, I didn't know, not in the same place. I stayed at her home in Encino with Duke. Right up until I left and went to college."

"So when Duke was killed?" Nate asked.

Callen looked down the sadness rolling off him in waves. "I was devastated, he was the nearest thing I had to a father. But I comforted myself that Hetty was safe. We had her and she was alright. She saved me as I was about to make the biggest mistake of my life."

Nate sat back trying to hide his shock. He had known that Callen and Hetty were close but finding out that he had known her since he was a child? "How old were you, when Hetty took you in?"

"Fifteen." Callen sighed, "She was the first adult I trusted. I mean I know she had a file, knows things about me that she keeps to herself, I trusted that she would share with me as soon as she could, that everything she had ever done was for my benefit. But this…" he got up and started pacing again.

"What did she do?"

"When Jake was...after Deeks took Jake, I was injured. I tried to follow, to save my son. I was weak and I passed out." His hands started to open and close in fists as he paced. "I woke up in hospital. Alone." Callen stopped and stared at Nate. "She kept everyone away. She told the hospital I was hallucinating, that I didn't have a son."

"Why would she do that?" Nate asked his gut clenching with worry.

"I don't know!" Callen exclaimed, "She was the nearest thing I had to a mother, but she kept me from finding my son. Why?" he asked the last word escaping in anguish.

Nate shook his head, "I don't know Callen, maybe she was concerned about your state of mind. You had been missing for five years, and you weren't trusting anyone."

"They didn't...I didn't think they wanted me. I had left because they blamed me for concealing the fact that Deeks was alive. But I had to keep Jake safe. How could they not see that?" Callen sat again rubbing his hand down his trouser leg and bouncing his knee trying to keep moving somehow.

Nate looked at the visual cues.

"You lost trust in everyone, you ran away. They were trying to help, but they made a mistake. Why did you leave?"

"I thought they were blaming me for Deeks' problem, I thought they...they would take Jake...I love him, but they didn't trust me. I mean I can understand it, after all why would I be a good father, I know nothing about family life."

"You've done a good job with Jake so far, that boy loves you."

"I love him…" Callen responded instantly. "All that I do is for him."

Nate waited for a moment. "If Jake wanted to run away but you knew it was dangerous would you let him?" He asked.

"No!" Callen exclaimed, "He'd get hurt!"

Nate nodded, "Maybe Hetty was worried about you getting hurt, after all you were not in your right mind, after all Jake had been taken by his father. You were worried sick, but you were seriously injured, maybe she was worried about her son."

Callen shook his head, "I'm not her son, and I'm a grown man not a five year old boy."

Callen slumped as the pain in his side overwhelmed him again, it had not healed properly as he had been fighting with the doctors the entire time he was in there. "If she was worried, why did she stop me from seeing Sam, and Gibbs? Why did she tell the doctors I had no son? Why did she lie to me?"

He dropped his head in his hands breathing heavily.

"I don't know...would you like to find out?" Nate asked.

"I'm not going anywhere near her." Callen snapped, "She's done too much this time, hidden too much, taken too much. I won't be played by her anymore."

"She's still operations manager, you'll have to work with her." Nate countered.

"I don't work for NCIS anymore Nate, I'm a handyman. I know that Hetty isn't going to tell me anything and I need to get Jake back home, he'll need to find a good child therapist."

"I said I'd help." Nate replied surprised.

Callen shook his head, "I meant what I said Nate, I am not taking Hetty's money."

"Callen, I understand, and I promise I will help Jake. Here or...where is it you live now?"

"Phelan."

Nate gave a small chuckle, "They were looking for you for years and you were only an hours drive away? Will you come back to NCIS?" He asked.

Callen shrugged ignoring the question he carried on, "You sure you want to help with Jake...I...I can't pay you too much, I don't earn too much."

Nate stood up and smiled, "I hear there is a great diner near your place, you buy me dinner and we are even."

Callen smiled, "Thanks Nate, maybe I'll even get Jake to draw you a picture, he's got a great talent."

Nate held the door, "Callen, I will talk to Hetty even if it's just to get the answers you need."

"Fine. But I'm not talking to her, and I don't want her near my son." Callen turned on his heels and headed back to Jake's room.


	24. Chapter 24

He was surprised to see Jake sitting up in Gibbs' lap and listening intently as Gibbs read him a book.

Not wanting to disturb the pair he slipped in and sat waiting until Jake looked up at him.

"Hi Daddy," He said his voice a bit stronger.

Hearing his son's voice made Callen's heart soar, he was going to be ok.

"You enjoying the story Jake?" Callen asked.

Jake nodded and smiled carefully as his face still hurt where it was bruised.

"Daddy, this is Mr. Gibbs...he said he was a friend and he has a badge like a policeman. Is it ok if I listen...he was reading The Gruffalo...it's about nice monsters." he rambled.

Callen laughed and walked over picking his son up and kissing him on the head.

"Oh I need to introduce you to Mr. Gibbs." He sat back down with Jake on his knee on the edge of the hospital bed. "Jake Callen, this is Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Also known as Uncle Gibbs." he grinned.

Jake looked up at him quizzically. "Daddy, you got my name wrong?" He looked sad and Callen turned him to face him.

"Jake?"

"I waited a long time to get my name back, the bad man said that my name was Marty… I don't want another name Daddy."

Callen smiled, "Jake...we moved away when you were little and I changed our name, your father remember the policeman in your story? He gave you the name Jake and when I became your daddy I gave you the name Callen, but then we moved and I gave you the name Carter, but Callen is our real name."

Jake sat there, his bottom lip sucked in slightly as he thought about what he daddy said.

He gave a short nod and turned around his blond hair getting caught over his face. He brushed it back and turned to Gibbs holding out his hand.

"Uncle Gibbs….I'm Jake Callen, Me's to pleat you!" he said somberly.

Gibbs suppressed an urge to smile, "Pleased to meet you Jake Callen."

Jake smiled shyly and turned back to Callen. "Can Uncle Gibbs read me more stories?" he asked.

"Maybe later." Callen replied, "We have to pack your things Jake."

Jake looked confused, "Why?"

"Well, I thought maybe you'd want to go home."

Jake climbed off his dad's lap, leaving one hand holding onto his pants and looked up at him.

"Daddy?"

Callen nodded and waited.

"When we go home, do we have to change our names again? I like your face when people call you Callen, you smile more and have less crinkles on your head."

"Crinkles?" Callen asked leaning down to his son as Jake reached his hand up and touched Callen's forehead.

"Crinkles….there…" he clarified.

Callen lifted him up and hugged him carefully not wanting to hurt any bruises that were still healing.

"Jake Callen, I love you and you may be Jake Callen for as long as you need to be, but I know of two people who have been very worried about you and will be pleased to see you if we go home."

"Uncle Bert and Auntie Wanda!" He grinned. "And my  _bike_!" he clapped and grabbed his bag and Sully. "We go now daddy?"

Callen nodded, "Soon, I just have to get some medicine for you from the doctor and sign some forms."

Jake turned to Gibbs, "Will you come too Uncle Gibbs. I can show you my room, it's like my bed, Daddy made it, it's awesome!" he grinned.

Gibbs looked at Callen, "I suppose you need a ride back." he said.

"You don't have a car Gibbs, you were picked up by Sam remember?"

Gibbs nodded, "Yeah but I rented a car when the doctor came in earlier and said Jake was going to be discharged. Figured you'd want a ride home."

Callen nodded, "Thanks Jethro, I really didn't want Sam to take me back." Truth be told Callen had figured on seeing if he could get a bus then a cab and was mentally counting his savings.

He wanted to get Jake and leave before Sam came back.

He had no idea how he was going to tell him he wasn't coming back to NCIS. He didn't even know if his house was still in Los Angeles. Hetty had brought the property and had paid the mortgage outright so he only had to pay her back. But leaving five years ago he had defaulted on the loan. He had assumed that she had sold the house and recouped her money. However there was no way he was going to ask her or owe her anything ever again. He was done owing people.

He took fifty dollars out of his pocket and handed it to Gibbs, Let me know if I owe you anymore, that should cover the gas.

Gibbs knew exactly what Callen was doing nodded and put the money in his pocket without a word vowing to leave it at Callen's home somewhere.

* * *

Sam and Kensi stood outside the two way mirror in Deek's room and watched as the doctors examined him.

"Do you think we'll ever get him back?" Kensi asked she had driven non stop down to the hospital as soon as Nell had called her and told her that they had Deeks. Sam had been in the parking lot seeing Nell off in a Taxi back to the mission as she arrived.

"I hope so." Sam said, "Deeks was a good man, this...thing isn't who he's meant to be." he winced as Max let out a long stream of obscenities as the doctor injected him and pulled on the restraints, threatening to kill anyone within earshot.

"I am hoping that maybe I can get through to him." Nate replied. "I can't start work with him for a few weeks, the doctors need to get him steadied on his new medication and they want to do some brain scans, then I should be able to get some sessions in. Callen his adamant that Deeks is in there somewhere it's just a case of prying him out and helping him find his way home.

Kensi looked hopeful, "You'll be able to help him? We'll get our partner's back?"

Nate shook his head, "I'm not sure about that for either of you. Deeks committed crimes as Max, mentally he is not responsible, but morally...Kens, he may still have to go to trial, you will have to prepare yourself for that. As for Callen...he's left the hospital with Jake. He's going to call me when I can work with Jake, but he's made it clear he's got no intention of going back to NCIS again. In fact he wouldn't be working with me if I hadn't argued to still be Jake's therapist. He doesn't want anything at all to do with Hetty."

"Why not?" Kensi asked.

Sam shook his head, "I know why, but I don't know if Callen knows the whole story. I talked to Hetty earlier."

Nate looked up interested in what Sam was saying. "Can you tell me?" he asked.

Sam nodded and all three moved to a group of chairs in the waiting room.

"Hetty was worried when she saw Callen back at the diner. He had been neglecting himself and he had the same distrusting look that he had when he was 15 and she first met him."

Kensi looked interested she had no idea that Callen and Hetty had known each other for that long.

"When Hetty first took Callen home he was distrustful and scared, apparently where he had been before had been awful, some detention center I think." Sam said, Callen had told him some as well but not the full story.

Nate nodded listening intently.

"Callen was seriously injured and he had lost his trust in the team and everyone. Hetty knew that to get Jake back that Callen needed to trust someone. So she set it up that he would hate her and trust me, Gibbs and Nell."

"So she really wanted to help Callen?" Nate asked astonished.

Sam nodded, "I think she went the wrong way about it, and I understand why he hates her now but they need to talk. He needs to realize that she was trying her best to help him."

"I'll talk to him, but I'm not sure right now he's going to change his mind."

"Well I'll talk to him, I mean he'll have gone home won't he?"

Nate nodded. "Gibbs is going back to Phelan with him."

"Phelan? Why is he going there?" Sam asked.

"Because it's their home. He's taking Jake back to the place he is most familiar with."

"But he's coming back to Los Angeles isn't he?" Kensi asked.

Nate shrugged, "I don't know Kens."


	25. Chapter 25

The diner was busy as they pulled up and Callen smiled as he undid Jake's safety belt and let him out running towards the diner.

As they entered Wanda turned and gasped.

"Oh my lord!" she exclaimed dropping her notepad and crouching down on the floor as Jake ran into her arms.

"Auntie Wanda!" Jake cried as he wrapped his arms around her and cried.

"Jake?!" Bert called from the back and knocked over a stack of pans in his haste to get to the little boy.

The diners looked on in confusion as their waitress burst into tears and hugged the child.

She looked up and wiped her eyes, "Greg? You found him!" she moved and walked over and pulled him into a hug.

Callen moved into the hug, much to Gibbs' surprise, "I missed you Wanda. Jake's fine, he wasn't hurt too much and he'll be ok...Is it ok if we come home?" he asked worried that after all that had transpired as he had left that maybe Bert and Wanda wouldn't want them anymore.

Wanda cried and held on tighter, "You are as good as our son Greg, you will always be welcome here. After you left, I locked up your trailer, you left the key in the door." she reached around her neck and took out a small gold chain with the key for the trailer hanging on it.

Taking the key off she held it out to him and then turned to the five people in the diner. "Your bills are on me today, my son has come home and found our grandson who was kidnapped." she said tears flowing freely.

The patrons in the diner applauded and Wanda sat Callen, Jake and Gibbs in an empty booth, "Order what you want, you still look hungry son."

Callen smiled, "Thanks Ma."

Jake looked up at Wanda, "Are you and Uncle Bert my Grandma and Grandpa now?" He asked.

Wanda crouched down and tousled his blond shaggy hair. "Would you like to be?" she asked looking at Callen for support who nodded and smiled.

"Yes please Grandma!" Jake launched into her locking his arms around her waist, "I love you Grandma!" he announced.

Choruses of 'Aww' went around the diner.

Wanda smiled, "So, pancakes and chocolate Ice cream for my grandson, Your usual Greg?" she asked and Callen nodded.

"Thanks Ma." he smiled and moved back as Wanda looked at the man with Callen.

"And you Mr….."

"Grandma, this is Uncle Jetrow he's my new uncle, he knew Daddy from a long time ago...from when there were Gruffalo's." He said somberly; he had been thinking about this for a long time.

Gibbs laughed. "I don't think Daddy is that old kid."

Jake looked at him and shook his head, "But uncle Jetrow, Daddy is  _OLD_!"

All three of them laughed at that as Wanda went to hand the order into Bert.

* * *

A few hours later, after eating and talking with Bert and Wanda, Callen and Gibbs drove the car around the back and Callen carried a sleeping Jake into the trailer.

Gibbs looked at the small dwelling but said nothing as he dropped his bag down and followed as Callen lay a sleeping Jake down in his room.

"It's very colorful." Gibbs remarked at the patchwork paint job.

"Leftover paint from jobs. but Jake loves it." Callen said quietly as he closed the door and moved out to the kitchen. "Coffee?" he asked.

Gibbs nodded as Callen filled up and switched on the machine. "Where to you sleep?" he asked looking at the other door.

Callen laughed. "Not there Jethro, Jake needed a bath so I converted my room into a larger bathroom, holds a washer dryer we found, it works great now. I sleep there…" He pointed to the couch he had installed in the small living area, "But you can take that tonight I'll put my roll on the floor and we'll talk to Wanda about getting you a room tomorrow." Just as he said it Wanda knocked softly on the door.

"Hey Greg?" She called.

He opened the door and looked worried, "Is everything alright?" he asked.

She nodded, "Yes but I assumed you needed somewhere for your friend to sleep, so I brought you a key to room 5, it's got clean sheets and bedding."

Callen kissed her cheek, "Thanks Wanda."

She smiled, "I liked it better when you called me Ma." she sighed.

He stepped down and took the key pulling her into a hug, "Thanks Ma." he said again.

"Well you boys have a good night and I'll see you in the morning. You have jobs if you are interested?"

Callen shrugged, "Gotta pay the bills Wanda."

She smiled and waved heading back to where Bert was waiting to take her home.

Callen handed the key to Gibbs and went to pour him a coffee.

"So you're not going home?" Gibbs asked as he took his coffee and moved to the couch.

"I am home." Callen said stubbornly.

"I meant your house in Los Angeles."

"I think Hetty sold it. Anyway, this is home for Jake. Until Nate says he's ok I can't even think of moving. This is all he remembers, this is home to him. I need Jake to have stability, he needs to go back to school and his friends."

"So you're going back to being Greg Carter?" Gibbs sipped his coffee and waited for Callen to reply.

"I...I want to, but it's not who I am. But I can be enough of Greg Carter that Jake will feel settled."

"What about you G. You are a federal agent, doesn't matter what agency, that is what you know, who you are?"

"No!" Callen shook his head, "Who I am is Jake's father. What he's been through is traumatic,"

"What Hetty put you through was traumatic." Gibbs said interrupting him.

Callen gave a sour laugh, "It's just to be expected."

"How so?" Gibbs asked.

"I trusted Hetty, and she took me in before I came to you. I should have known she didn't mean it."

"Has she ever hurt you like that before?" Gibbs asked.

Callen looked away and nodded. "She knew my mother...I never told you but after we went to Romania to rescue her, I found out that she had known my mother. She was supposed to help her out and get us off the beach and take us to safety. She didn't."

"Wow." Gibbs looked shocked, "I never knew. Had I known… Do you want me to talk to her?"

"No!" Callen shook his head fervently. "I just want to forget she exists, she's done hurting my family."

"Ok. When's Nate coming up?"

"A few days I think." Callen replied. "When are you heading home?"

Gibbs took another mouthful of his coffee. "I rented the car for another month. Talked to Vance about having some vacation time. Tony will be fine running the team for a while. I just needed to spend some time with you. I let you down."

"No...no you didn't Jethro, you came with Sam and Nell and saved me."

"You needed me. Of course I'll be there." Gibbs put his coffee down and leaned towards Callen. "I know you have always felt like you are alone, but do you remember the promise I made to you when you came to live with me for a while."

Callen nodded. "No matter where I go, if I need you and you are able you'll be there." he said but not really believing it. "It doesn't mean that you need to though?"

"Yes it does." Gibbs looked up at the clock on the wall, "It's getting late, I'm gonna turn in. I'll see you in the morning."

Callen nodded and stood at the door as Gibbs walked towards the parking lot towards his room.

* * *

Closing the door and turning back to the couch Callen reached behind it.

He grabbed the blanket from the bedroll and threw it on the couch then he walked to check on Jake, who was sleeping soundly.

Giving a small smile and a sigh he closed the door after pulling Jake's blanket over him he made it to the sofa and finally alone allowed himself to think over what had happened to him and how much he had lost.

He closed his eyes to blink back the tears, crying had never solved anything. But at least here alone he could process what he needed to and become strong enough to help his son.


	26. Chapter 26

Nate sat in an office the hospital staff had loaned him as he went over the brain scans that had been taken of Deeks' brain with his neurologist.

"As you can see the damage, here...here...and here, is quite extensive. With these two lesions here, I would say that they were caused by the drugs he was fed by his captors while he was away, and this one…" He pointed to a dark spot on the back of the image, "This was a blow to the head, probably the one that fractured his psyche."

"So what do you think doctor?" Nate asked concerned at what he had just heard.

"I think that with the right amount of therapy and some medication we may be able to repress the persona known as Max and allow Mr. Deeks to reemerge, but I do not think he will ever be fit enough to go back into Law enforcement. He will need plenty of therapy to acclimatize to his new role, whatever that may be."

Nate nodded, it was not the news he had wanted to hear but it was what he was expecting.

"Thank you Doctor, If I may consult with you as needed, I will work on tailoring Marty's therapy to this and the new meds. Have they been started yet?" he asked.

The doctor nodded, "We started them a week ago, I have already seen an improvement, we see more of Marty and less episodes of Max. However, he is still in the secure wing. I do not foresee him being released in the near future."

Nate nodded solemnly as he looked towards the secure wing where his friend was being held. "I will start therapy with him in another week then. I need to fill in my superior on Deeks' condition."

* * *

Callen and Jake waved Gibbs off as he headed back to D.C.

It had been a great visit and Jake had enjoyed having his uncle Jethro around, showing him his favorite play park and taking him to school for show and tell and introducing his friends to his uncle the Federal Agent.

Gibbs for his part had teased Callen when they had met with Jake's teacher, Ms Taylor and explained his change of name and the problems that Jake might encounter. Joelle Taylor and Callen had been unconsciously flirting with each other and Gibbs had pointed it out.

"What?  _NO!_ " Callen argued, "She's Jake's teacher."

"I know who she is G, you need to ask her out I can guarantee she will say yes."

"I can't date...I have Jake."

"I'll take Jake camping for the weekend, invite her out on Friday." Gibbs pushed.

Callen shook his head, "I can't bring her back here." For the first time he actually felt ashamed of where he was living.

Gibbs nodded, "I get ya, but take her out to dinner, maybe she'll not have to see the trailer."

After more pushing Callen relented. He did like Joelle, mostly it was the way the sunlight bounced off her red hair, also her eyes and her laugh and the way she was kind and patient around Jake all appealed to him.

Jake for his part was ecstatic that he was going on his first camping trip with uncle Jethro. He was still a little afraid of leaving his dad but Gibbs surprised him with a walkie talkie.

"This is so cool, so if anyone comes...like...like…" Jake looked worried.

"He's far away and locked up, you are safe." Callen reassured his son, "but if you're out walking and see a deer or something cool you can talk to Jethro over the walkie talkie and he can see too."

"We'll see deer? Like Bambi?" Jake asked.

Jethro nodded, "Maybe...I got you this too."

"A camera!" Jake ran and hugged Gibbs. "Thank you uncle Jetrow."

"You'll need the truck and I think Bert and Wanda have some camping gear you can use." Callen said as Jake ran to his room to pack.

"They do, I asked them."

Callen sighed as he handed the keys over. "I'll call Joelle and cancel."

"Why on earth for?" Gibbs asked.

"You need the truck, I can't walk to my date now can I?"

Gibbs laughed, "No but I still have the rental, you're on the insurance. You can pick Joelle up in style...Also, Bert, Wanda and I made you guys reservations at the grand hotel. Dinner is on us."

The date, and the camping trip had been a great success.

Gibbs had enjoyed spending so much time with Jake that they had promised to go camping again, and Callen and Joelle had started seeing each other more.

* * *

Nate sat as he waited for Deeks to be ushered into his therapy session. According to the orderly he had had a quiet night, but it had been awhile since he had seen his friend.

Wearing rumpled sweats and accompanied by an orderly he walked warily into the room.

"Sit down." Nate said smiling as Deeks entered, trying and failing to conceal his shock at the amount of weight he had lost and how haggard he looked.

Deeks wouldn't look at him, he was picking at the hem of his sweatshirt.

"How are you feeling?" Nate asked.

Deeks shrugged. "I think...the doctors tell me the meds are working." he mumbled.

"Good...good...are you eating, Marty?" Nate asked.

Deeks shrugged again. He hadn't had an appetite since finally taking control of his own body. All that had happened before seemed to be a dream, but there were a few bits...a few terrible bits that couldn't be explained away. The guilt ate at him like a cancer he couldn't escape.

"Some." was the only reply he could bring himself to give.

"Ok…" Nate watched him and was concerned by his despondency. "I have talked to your doctors, I know they've talked to you. So how do you feel about what they have said?"

"It's no more than I deserve." Deeks sighed. "I have lost everything, I am being pensioned off by the LAPD. I have no idea why they haven't charged me. I've lost my job at NCIS, can't be liason if I'm not with the LAPD. And…" Deeks broke off as he picked harder at his sweatshirt.

"And?" Nate pushed.

Deeks stood and started to pace, the orderly shifting his stance reminding Deeks he was there.

Deeks slumped back in the chair.

"Nothing…" he said, "Why are you here Nate?"

"Hetty."

The orderly looked confused but no one else was.

"She wanted to make sure I'm not going to go after Callen or Jake again?" Deeks asked looking ashamed as tears pricked his eyes.

"He was right...I'm just like him…"

"Who?" Nate asked.

"My father, my own son...Callen's son, he's not mine...not yours…" he told the growl he heard in his head. "Jake...Jake will always fear me…"

"Hetty wants to help you, she wants you to get better and she's offered to help you find work."

"You honestly think I'll ever get out of here?" Deeks made eye contact with Nate for the first time since he'd entered.

"You're ill Deeks, that's all. If you'll work with me you'll get better. Now both you and I know it will never be as it was, but you'll be able to live independently and you'll be able to hold down a job. Hetty has offered to help you with anything you need. If you don't want me as your therapist tell me now and we'll find someone more suited to you."

"I want to work with you Nate."

Nate smiled, "Good...good...then lets get started."


	27. Chapter 27

Callen lay back his eyes closed, one arm behind his head and the other was carding through Joelle's hair as they rested after a picnic. Jake laughed as Bert was fishing with him and Wanda sat clearing up the picnic.

"Sounds like Jake may be a fisherman after all." Wanda smiled watching her grandson with her husband.

"Maybe you could put fish on the menu at the Diner." Callen laughed.

"I might, would you eat it?" Wanda asked looking at her 'son' with a smile.

"Err….Sure." He said uneasily.

Joelle laughed and poked Callen, "G...you hate fish."

"I'd eat it if Ma cooked it and Jake caught it though." Callen argued. He sighed and for a second enjoyed the hot sunshine on his face. "I've been thinking Joelle, I wanna buy a house."

"Sounds nice, around here or further?" She asked shifting to look at him.

"Around here, not gonna leave my home." Callen replied knowing that this family here and now was all he had been seeking. "But if I do...I need you to help me pick it."

"Why? Surely you should just look for the house you want."

Callen nodded slowly. "I should, Jake will get a say and I'm hoping that you would like to have a say too...I mean if we are going to all live there as a family."

"We…? Family?" Joelle sat up, moving her long hair from her face and stared at him.

"I want you to marry me, be my wife...and ...Jake's mom?" he asked.

Joelle blinked in shock and said nothing for a second. "I will...If and only IF...Jake is alright with the idea."

Callen turned and whistled, for a second reminding himself of Eric and his old life. He held the ring box aloft and Jake whooped.

"I think he's alright with the idea." He grinned as he opened the box.

Joelle teared up, "Yes." she gasped and held out her hand as Callen put the ring on her finger and kissed her deeply.

Wanda clapped in excitement and hugged them both. "Congratulations and welcome to the family my dear."

Bert and Jake came over Jake launched into Joelle's arms, "Welcome to the family...miss...Mom…?" he asked tentatively.

Jo nodded, "Mom…" she giggled, "I like that."

* * *

Deeks stood at the door of the secure unit his bag in his hand.

It had been two years of therapy and tests and training. Now he was free to go.

But free to go where?

A horn honked and he looked over to see Kensi and Hetty waiting for him.

"Mr Deeks?" Hetty called.

Deeks looked confused, "Hetty? Kens? Why are you here?"

"Did you not think that Mr. Getz would let us know that you were going to be discharged today." Hetty said as he climbed into the back seat of Kensi's car. "We are here to take you home."

Deeks sighed, "Home?"

He had avoided asking about it, he knew that his apartment was owned by the LAPD and when he had been retired, (Although in his mind fired was still the operative word.) the apartment had gone to another police officer.

Hetty nodded but said nothing as Kensi drove them to downtown Los Angeles.

Deeks wasn't paying attention to the journey, he was just sitting with his eyes closed and enjoying riding in a car with his part...ex-partner.

They pulled up outside an old victorian house on a large plot of land. It stood strangely out of place in amongst the other buildings, a few children played in the yard behind a big security fence and a woman stood on a porch, her greying blonde hair covered in a scarf and she watched quietly as Kensi got Marty's bag out of the car and nudged him to get out.

The woman walked down the path to the security gate and put a code into the keypad on the wall.

"Kensi Blye?" she asked looking at the young woman who was standing by the car.

Kensi nodded as Hetty walked around the car. "Thank you." the woman said to Hetty.

"It's quite alright my dear." Hetty said shaking her hand.

The woman's attention was drawn to the blond head that exited the car.

"Marty?" She was shocked at how drawn, sad and lost he looked.

Moving past the two women she walked over to him, giving him space for a reaction. "Martin." she said softer as her hand reached out to tousle his hair.

This seemed to pull Marty out of his trance.

"M...Mom?" He reached out as if she wasn't real. His eyes went wide in shock and he started shaking.

"It wasn't me Marty, it was your aunt Mary…"

"Momma?" Deeks couldn't hold the tears in and neither could Caroline Deeks as both mother and son were reunited.

"I think we need to go inside." Hetty said guiding the two up the path to the large kitchen where surprisingly Nate was sitting drinking coffee.

A large woman shushed a couple of giggling kids as the group were ushered into the kitchen and she went to close the door. "I'll give ya'll some privacy Caroline." she smiled.

"Thanks Angie." Caroline smiled as she manouvered her shaking son into an armed dining chair.

"I think a cup of sweet tea for Mr. Deek is in order." Hetty suggested as Nate nodded and went to pour.

"I think I need to explain." Caroline said as they all sat.

Deeks gave a high pitched laugh, "You don't have to explain, you're dead...they let me out too early and I am still crazy." his voice shook as he spoke.

"No...No Deeks, This is Caroline Deeks your mother." Nate told him sitting next to him on one side for support.

"Hetty tracked me down, I didn't know where you were, you were eight when I last saw you." Caroline explained.

"I remember eight; eight was when you and him started to hate me."

"No...no baby that's not true...I have never hated you, but I couldn't find you. Your father had been beating me for a year and he beat me and dumped me at the beach. I lost my memory for a while and when I got it back I was told that you, Gordon and I had moved. I realized that he had replace me with my sister Mary, she used to come around when you were little." She pulled a large album over of candid style photographs. "Gordon knew where i had gone to, but I couldn't find you. The shelter took me in and became my home. I have been living and working here since eighty seven. It is my home now, and maybe if you want to stay yours too."

"You left me with him?" Deeks voice broke as he asked the question.

"Baby I tried so hard to find you, all I had from him were these. I could see how much he hurt you and how much you were hurting but the police wouldn't tell me where you were only that I was wasting their time as I would answer the door to them and tell them you were fine and that I was sick."

She opened the album, there were pictures of Deeks but they were not happy childhood pictures. They were pictures of a scared little boy, with bruising and cuts to various parts of his body. Looking distrustful at the woman he thought was his mother.

"They are not nice to look at but they were all I had of you." Caroline explained.

Hetty put her tea cup down and cleared her throat.

"I watched the tapes from D.C, when you refered to your mother by two names and I felt your explanation was a bit thin. So I had Miss Jones and Mr. Beale do some digging and they found the real Caroline Deeks alive and well here at the shelter."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Deeks asked in shock.

"It wasn't confirmed until last night." Kensi explained, "Nate was here and we were on our way to pick you up when we finally knew. Nell did a DNA sample on both Caroline and Mary, Mary was your aunt and Caroline is your mother."

"This place helped me heal Marty, I hope it can help you too. Angie has prepared a room upstairs for you if you want to use it?"

Marty nodded. He wasn't sure still if this was real, but as her arms wrapped around him again he had flashes of memory, from long ago when his mother smelled and felt like his mother.

He cried again as he held her.

For a while, mother and son stayed like that the others watching but not wanting to break the moment.


	28. Chapter 28

Deeks awoke in a strange room, in a soft bed. No sounds of orderlies doing their rounds and no muted sounds of screaming from down the hall.

Then there was a scream… followed by a child's cry.

Deeks curled into a ball wrapping his arms around his head blocking out the noise he was sure was one of those terrible memories he had had to work through. He was convinced the scream came from his own child.

The door knocked but he didn't move.

The door cracked open an inch and Caroline poked her head inside.

Hearing the whimpers that Deeks couldn't keep inside she came in and sat gently on the bed.

"Shh…." she whispered carding her hand through his tousled hair.

"I didn't mean to?" Deeks blurted out moving instinctively from her touch.

"It's ok son, you didn't do anything, it was one of the children. The family have only been here a week and he's still traumatized."

"Not in my head?" Deeks asked checking.

Caroline shook her head, "No son. but if you want to talk I can give Nate a call." she offered.

Deeks sat up sleepily and rubbed his eyes. Caroline smiled seeing in this man the vestiges of the little boy she had loved so much.

"I brought you a hot chocolate, it's still early, but I remembered how much you used to like them."

Deeks broke into a grin, "I do mom...thanks."

He took the drink and his eyes lit up at the mini marshmallows on the top.

He relaxed as the hot chocolate coursed through his body, "Nice." he sighed.

"You still have a few hours before breakfast, it's still dark outside would you like me to leave so you can go back to sleep."

Without thinking Deeks' hand reached out and grabbed her. "Don't leave." he breathed.

She smiled and nodded. "I'll stay."

* * *

Callen awoke with his phone ringing, he hit the answer button as he moved away from the bed and a sleeping Joelle.

"Callen's handyman and repairs." He said wondering who was ringing him so early.

"Hey G." Sam's voice replied over the phone.

"Sam?" Callen yawned as he moved over to the kitchen and switched on the coffee maker. Then he peeked in on Jake who was asleep face down on the bed with his arm hanging onto the new toy truck that Joelle and Callen had brought him.

"I figured you'd be up, seeing as you don't sleep." Sam's bright voice came over the speaker as Callen quickly shut Jake's door.

"I was asleep...hold on…." He grabbed his coffee and headed for the door of the trailer.

"G?" Joelle called sleepily.

'Phone call.' Callen mouthed pointing to the phone, 'Be outside, love you.'

Joelle nodded and fell back to sleep pulling his pillow towards her.

Callen moved to a deck chair he had outside and put his coffee on the small outdoor table he had.

"What can I do for you Sam." He asked neutrally.

"I just drove by your house, it's for sale. Does this mean that you aren't coming back at all?" he asked worried.

"To Los Angeles, Or OSP?" Callen asked.

He took a sip of his coffee and watched as a family pulled into the diner for an early morning breakfast, Wanda giving him a wave as she looked out of the window. He waved back as Sam replied. "Both."

"No."

"No?" Sam's voice sounded surprised. "I thought you were considering coming back. You're a great Agent G, you want to give all that up for what you have there?"

Callen looked up as Joelle, wearing his blue shirt stepped down from the trailer and put some toast beside him giving him a kiss on the cheek as she turned to take her shower before Jake awoke.

Callen smiled, "Yep."

"It's that much better?" Sam asked worried for his friend.

Callen laughed, "A thousand times better Sam, I have my family and ….I'm getting married."

"MARRIED!"

For a second Callen swore he could hear his friend without a phone at that moment.

"Yeah Sam, I'm getting married. I figured that was why you called I sent you and Michelle an invite a few days ago."

"No...I...I had no idea, does this mean you've talked to Hetty then?" Sam asked.

Callen's face clouded over, "No...Nate has insisted that I talk to her, she's coming down today while Jake and Jo are at school."

"You got another kid?" Sam asked.

"No, Joelle. My fiancee, she's Jake's teacher." Callen explained.

Sam chuckled, "Only you G."

"Sam." Callen said his tone changing.

"Yeah G."

"This wedding, don't tell everyone. I can't have them up here. Just you, and Nell, you understand?"

"Nell knows?" Sam asked surprised.

"She's picking up Gibbs and Tony from the airport and is driving them out here."

"When is the wedding G?" Sam asked.

"Two months." Callen smiled knowing where Sam's mind was rightly going.

"Is she…?" Sam's voice shot up and Callen laughed.

"Yep."

Sam chuckled, "My lips are sealed G, but we are coming down to meet her this weekend, Michelle will kill me if we don't."

"No problem, you can come and see the new house we are fixing up." Callen offered.

Still chuckling Sam signed off and Callen went and got ready for his 'showdown' with Hetty.

* * *

Dropping off Joelle and Jake at school, Callen headed to the room in the doctor's complex that Nate had been renting for his visits to both Callen and Jake.

Callen had refused to allow Hetty to see Jake or turn up at the trailer. More importantly he had asked Nate not to tell her his new address. Hetty had tried to contact him by letter, another reason why he had decided to meet her and move.

He knew that what she had done to him hurt him greatly and that his questions could only be answered by her.

He parked his truck up and walked into the reception.

"Hey G." Mary-lou the doctor's receptionist walked in.

"Hey. Is he here?" Callen asked.

Mary-lou nodded. "Got here an hour ago, has a really creepy old lady with him." she said.

Callen laughed, "Creepy just about cuts it. Oh, before I forget have you got those Prenatal Vitamins Doc Halliday prescribed for Joelle?" he asked.

She smiled and handed over a small bag, "There ya go dear, now you head on out the back, that Doc of yours has the same room as usual." she told him as he took the bag in his hand and headed to Nate's temporary office.

Callen stood outside the door for a second, took a deep breath and knocked.

"Come in." Nate's voice floated through the doorway.

His hand shook slightly as he opened the door and walked in.

Putting on a mask of bravado he walked right by Hetty and sat in his usual chair facing Nate. "Hey Nate." he smiled and sank into the chair not even looking at the little woman sitting next to him.

"Morning Callen." Nate replied.

"Good Morning Mr. Callen." Hetty said.

He wanted to not say a word to her, but he had promised Nate he would be civil.

"Ms. Lange." he replied distancing himself from her.

Hetty looked sad but said nothing.

Nate cleared his throat, Callen wasn't going to make it easy for him or Hetty.

"I asked you here today Hetty as Callen has reached a point in his recovery where he needs to be able to say what he needs to to you."

Hetty nodded solemnly.

"I can make this easy." Callen said, "You broke my trust Hetty. Not once but many times. I don't know why you feel that I don't deserve to be happy or have a family. but that's not the issue now. I could put up with you hurting me, betraying me and letting me down. That is something I was used to growing up. Even after we went to Romania and I discovered you knew my mother's name, you knew all about her and never told me, I forgave you because I owed you. You saved me when I was at my lowest ebb." He turned and for the first time looked her in the eye.

"You know what I can't forgive you for?" he asked, he waited for less than a second. "You put my son in danger. That I won't forgive you for. I don't know and frankly Hetty I don't care if you thought that Jake would be better with Deeks than me. He was scared, hurt and abused and you stopped me from getting to him. Whatever debt I owe you will be repaid. The house you made me buy is up for sale, you just bill me for when you had me, anything else you think I owe you and even if it takes the rest of my live I will repay you. But I never want to see you again."

 


	29. Chapter 29

Callen stood up and walked towards the door.

"Mr. Callen...Wait...please?" Hetty asked.

Callen turned and regarded her with indifference. "What Hetty, what on earth do you think you can say that will erase what you have done to me...to Jake?"

"Nothing Mr. Callen," Hetty hung her head, "But at least allow me the courtesy of trying to explain my reasoning." She requested.

Callen gave a curt nod, turned and sat back down in the chair.

"I have known you all your life." Hetty said.

Callen's head shot up in interest.

"Please allow me to tell you this and then you may walk away if you wish."

Saying nothing Callen nodded.

"I have known about you since Clara called and told me she was expecting her second child." Hetty waited as a flash of anger crossed his face.

"I have known your mother since she was a child, I will explain why I neglected to tell you later. When you were separated from your mother and sister I went frantic trying to find you both. I was devastated by your mother's death, but she knew she was in danger and had already made plans to get you and your sister out of Romania in into America." She took a breath and continued.

"I found Amy, a week before she died. I made plans to have her transferred to my care, but then she slipped out with Miss Lawson," Hetty stopped closing her eyes in pain at the memory.

"I then focused all my attention on finding you."

"You took a while." Callen couldn't help blurting out and Hetty nodded sadly.

"I found you when you entered the juvenile court system, I was there at your incarceration."

Nate looked up curiously at that and Callen mouthed 'later' he knew this was a part of his life he hadn't told Nate about.

Hetty continued, "I arranged for your record to be expunged and for you to be fostered with me upon your release….then you left."

"It was _ **hell**  _Hetty, I wasn't staying or going back there." Callen snapped, he had hated his three weeks in the Juvenile Detention Center and he had never talked about it.

Hetty nodded, although he hadn't talked to her she had sat up nights listening to his screams the first few weeks he came to live with her and gathered that although not all his nightmares where from his three week detention, the worst seemed to be.

"It was then though that when things were at there worst you stopped trusting people wasn't it?" Hetty asked.

Callen crossed his arms refusing to meet her eyes.

"I noticed as you grew up that this was a trend, you are a lot like…" she paused and shook her head with a wry smile, he was not ready to know that yet, but he was incredibly a lot like his father.

"A lot like who?" Callen asked noticing the slip as Hetty mentally cursed.

"Later," She promised. "However Since knowing you when things were at their worst, you would go off alone. You don't think when you are worried you react. How many Comescu did you kill when trying to save Reinhardt, you didn't think then did you. You just reacted and you killed them. You need a partner, like Sam to temper...your temper."

Callen sighed he was volatile he knew it, but it wasn't his fault...was it?

* * *

"I know how much you love Jake, I knew it from the moment you told me you would take him that you would die to protect him. I couldn't let that happen."

"It wasn't your call." Callen snapped.

"You need family Mr. Callen, both those you know...and those you do not care a great deal about you. I knew if you left, injured as you were you would have died and Jake would have grown up without his father or his dad."

"So why tell the doctors that Jake didn't exist, why leave me...alone."

"You healed didn't you?" Hetty asked.

"Dammit, that wasn't the point, Jake was out there missing and alone and you had me drugged!"

"He was never alone, Mr. Beale and Miss Jones were looking for him around the clock, your team were trying to find him."

"Yeah because they are so good at that. I disappeared with Jake for five years and they didn't find us."

"Yes but you are an expert in hiding and you knew what they were looking for. You lived under the radar."

"And Deeks didn't know all this?!" Callen exclaimed.

"Mr. Deeks did, but Max Giamatti didn't." Hetty argued. "You needed to heal, you needed to be level headed and fit enough to take on Mr. Deeks without losing your temper and doing something you would regret."

"And having the doctors forcibly drug me and making me think I was crazy was your way of doing it."

"I was doing what I thought was best."

"I was trying to save my son!" Callen yelled standing up and looming over her.

"And I was trying to save mine." Hetty replied.

"What?" Callen sat back in the chair with a thump. "I know you thought of me as your son, but I'm not...not really."

"You are, Mr. Callen…" Hetty sighed, "I told you in that church in Russia, before you found out about Nikita's death."

"The church you were married in?" Callen asked.

Hetty nodded, "I didn't know then, not until the Reinhardt case. In 1985, when I went to Russia on assignment, just before I met you, I met and married Nikita Reznikov."

"For a case right? Not...like...really  ** _married_  **him?"

Hetty shook her head, "I fell in love." She smiled sheepishly. "He had your eyes. I didn't know he had been married to Clara, I did know he was widowed. I was alerted to the fact that you had been located not long after we were married, I left Russia to come back to the US for you. I honestly didn't know that I was really your stepmother until you found out his name. But I have always loved you as if you were my own, as much as you love Jake."

"I would never do to Jake what you did to me."

"I hope you never have to." Hetty said honestly. "But you would do all you could to keep him safe wouldn't you."

"Of course?"

"Well then, please don't begrudge what I did. I knew you would need to be able to trust someone to be able to help you rescue your son. I knew it would be easier for me to be the bad guy, for you to hate me to the point that when Nell and Sam came to rescue you, you would trust them while hating me."

"You knew?"

"Of course I knew, I let slip your location to Miss Jones, I made sure she overheard enough to be able to co-ordinate your rescue attempt as soon as you were fit and well enough to locate young Mr. Callen, which was just before we located him. It was I that made sure Nell was directed to the Motel where both Mr. Giamatti and young Mr. Callen were staying."

"Why didn't you just tell me this?!" Callen exclaimed.

"It is better that you hate me and you have your son. Than you ignored my pleas for you to rest and heal and I lost my son and we all lost Jake."

Callen turned away blinking back the traitorous tears that threatened to fall.

"I made a mistake Mr. Callen and I am prepared to pay for it for the rest of my life, safe in the knowledge that both you and your son are safe." She closed her eyes silently and placed her hands in her lap awaiting his judgment.

* * *

Callen stood up and walked to the window, staring at his truck parked outside as Nate sat in shock at the revelations he had just been privy to.

Everything Hetty had put Callen through had been a plan to help him to trust to save Jake. Not only that but the one woman Callen had been hating for months was actually family, at least by marriage, if not because she had been in his life for years.

And Callen had been in prison, and not on a case?

He mentally ran through his bag of tricks, but he wasn't sure how he was going to help Callen cope with this, nor was he sure if Callen would allow him to help deal with it.

He watched as Callen stared out of the window rubbing his thumb and forefinger together while his mind tried to figure out the best solution to the information he had been presented with, his jaw tightening and slacking as he thought about what he was going to do.


	30. Chapter 30

Deeks sat at the large kitchen table listening to the happy chatter of the children and families that were staying in the large shelter.

There were eight families in total, not including Deeks, his mother and Angie who lived there full time.

He ate slowly as the mother's got their children ready for the day, handing out the lunch bags to those children who needed them as they went to catch their school buses. Eventually the hubbub settled down and Caroline looked over at her son who was still stirring his spoon in his bowl of oatmeal.

"Marty?" She asked as she leant over and handed him a coffee, "Are you alright?"

Deeks shrugged, "I'm going to see Monty today and pick up my last paycheck from the LAPD."

"Are you ok to do this?" She asked, "I'm sure we can put it off till Nate gets back if you need too."

Deeks smiled at the care his mother showed him.

"I'm ok Ma, I've been thinking about what I can do now though. I mean I'm not a cop anymore and I'll never be an NCIS agent so where do I go from here?"

"What do you have in mind?" Caroline asked as she sat down.

"I've been watching what you guys do here." He said as he moved his bowl aside, "Is there anyway I can help at all?"

Caroline thought about it, "I suppose you can help out with yard work and some maintenence. But to be honest the one thing we really could use around here is a lawyer that'll work for free. I don't suppose in your time as a cop you came across anyone we could use?" She asked hopefully.

Marty grinned the first full on smile he could remember in a long time.

"Mom….I'm a lawyer, I mean I don't practice, but I still have my law degree and it's in family law." he admitted.

* * *

By the time Kensi turned up to pick him up, Marty was talking animatedly with his mother about clearing out a room down the hallway.

"It's got great light and will be perfect." Caroline said.

"But, shouldn't you use that for another family?" Deeks asked.

"Nope. It's been a storeroom for years, we can move, sell or dump the things in there we don't need and paint it up nice and bright. You write a list of everything you will need and we will do our best to get it for you."

"Morning." Kensi smiled as she walked in with Monty by her side.

"Morning...Monty!" Deeks grinned and dropped to his knees as Monty licked him, his tail wagging with joy. "Oh my God I missed you so much!" Deeks exclaimed rubbing his hands over Monty's head and back, "Have you been a good boy for Kensi?" he asked.

"He's been wonderful, Sam spoils him rotten when I take him to work." Kensi smiled.

Deeks looked up, "Hey Kens…"

"Do you have much planned for today, I took the day off. I was hoping that after you meet with Bates we could take Monty to the beach for the day together."

"I'd like that." Deeks smiled, he looked over at his mother, "Is that ok mom, we can start to clear that room tomorrow."

Caroline tousled his hair again, she couldn't seem to get enough of it.

"It's fine, Angie and I will sort through the stuff in that room and see what we can find for you, You have a nice day son,"

She smiled as Kensi and Marty left with Monty walked happily by his master's side.

* * *

Standing outside the LAPD Headquarters Deeks found himself rooted to the spot grasping Kensi's hand.

"I...I can't go in there." he said his heart feeling like it was about to burst out of his chest. He had flashes of going in there as Max and killing a police officer. The thought that he was going to be arrested the moment he set foot inside the station wouldn't leave him.

Kensi saw a bench off to one side, "Come here Marty." she said and sat him on the bench. "Do you need to talk about it?" she asked.

Deeks shook his head, "I can't...it's not my memory...it's...his...but…"

Kensi nodded, "They had talked over the past few months long and hard about what he remembered and what he didn't. They had talked about his feelings for Sara and how he had felt when she had died. Eventually in the last few weeks they had talked about his feelings for her.

"Wait here, I'll go and see if Bates will come out." She said and handed him Monty's leash.

Turning she walked inside not knowing if Deeks had heard her on not.

Lieutenant Bates looked up as he door knocked. "Come in Deeks." he said expectantly having seen him and that lovely partner of his walk across the street.

"Sorry it's just me." Kensi apologized as she opened the door. "Deeks is outside, he can't...you know."

Bates nodded, "I talked to Hetty and that therapist of his Nate. They said this might happen. Believe it or not Deeks was a great cop and even though we have to retire him, it doesn't mean I don't care anymore."

Bates looked through his paperwork, "I'll get what I need and then we'll head down to see him. I do need his signature on this paperwork."

Kensi sat and waited while he sorted himself out.

* * *

Deeks looked up as a shadow loomed over him expecting to see Kensi he looked up and stopped at the four men who stood in front of him. They were all cops that he knew but he couldn't remember their names.

"You got a lot of nerve Deeks showing your face around here." The oldest of the group said.

"Sorry?" He asked jerking his hand away as another man took Monty's lead and tied him to the bench.

"Stimson was a friend of mine and you killed him." Another growled.

"I didn't...I mean it wasn't me…" Deeks stood up trying to reach for Monty's leash,

Another pushed him into the alleyway by the side of the precinct.

"Look I don't wanna hurt anyone." Deeks said raising his hands in a gesture to placate them.

It was a bad move as the first blow landed, Deeks swore he could hear Max in his head laughing.

* * *

Ten minutes later Bates and Kensi exited the building. Kensi looked worried as she saw Monty tied to the bench she had left Deeks sitting on.

"Marty!" she called as Monty whined and strained at his leash.

"Let the dog go, he'll find him." Bates suggested.

Kensi unclipped the leash and they followed the dog as he bolted down the alleyway next to the building.

Monty sat and whined near a corrugated cardboard box and looked back at Kensi and Bates.

"Deeks?!" Bates called as they looked around.

Kensi grabbed and pulled a large blue trash can and gasped as Deeks' arm fell out from behind the can.

"Call the paramedics." she called back to Bates who was already on the phone as she moved to kneel beside him to check his pulse.

Bates stood at the entrance to the alley and made a couple of calls, within minutes Jeff Versey came running around the corner. "Where is he? Is he ok?" he asked running down to where Kensi was.

"I don't know, he didn't deserve this." Kensi said tears pricking her eyes as Deeks started to stir.

"Yeah...did...Max.." Deeks groaned.

"No…." Versey growled, "Whatever Max did was not your fault Deeks, like anything I did while I was drinking was not my fault….remember?"

Deeks tried to nod, but the pain was too much, he blindly reached out and grabbed Versey's hand. "Keep Kensi safe." he groaned and then he passed out as the paramedic arrived.

Hours later he awoke to a loud beeping and hushed voices.

"Kens?" he groaned, "What hit me?"

"That's what we'd like to know." Versey said as he moved into Deek's sightline.

Deeks turned away, "I don't know Jeff. Friends of Stimson's. I think I deserve all I got, I can remember bits...But I wasn't nice to him."

"Stimson was a dirty cop, a lot of us knew it. Internal Affairs cleared you Deeks, they know the situation. These cops shouldn't have attacked you. Tell me who it was and I'll get them charged."

"I don't know them."

"Marty, you need to tell the detective anything you can remember." Caroline said worried.

Deeks shook his head, "I don't know them...but...I think Max did, I...I heard him laughing."

 


	31. Chapter 31

Callen turned back and looked at Hetty.

"What do you want from me, absolute forgiveness?" He asked his voice betraying the turmoil going through him.

"I do not expect forgiveness Mr. Callen, but I would like a little understanding. I would like you to know that, yes, I made mistakes but my goal first and foremost has always been your well being." Hetty said clasping her hands together as she spoke.

Callen moved and sat in the chair across from her.

"You have kept secrets my whole life." He said his voice low as he leant towards her anger still visible on his face. "You knew me when you found me. I thought I was just lucky, but you knew exactly who I was. You could have told me about my mother then. Granted you didn't know the man you had married was my father…," he stopped and cocked his head a bit thinking. "Didn't you ever mention to my father about me?" he asked.

Hetty shook her head, "I told him I had taken in a child, but as I knew he had lost children we didn't talk more. He wasn't able to leave Russia at the time, his work was too important."

"His work?" Callen asked his curiosity overcoming his anger.

"He helped people in danger of incarceration by the state for being conscientious objectors to flee the country."

"Oh…" Callen felt deflated, this fact he had known, he was hoping there was more to it.

There was, but Hetty wasn't about to tell Callen that his father was a double agent. He didn't need to know that.

"And when you knew that the man you were married too was my father? Why didn't you tell me then?"

"You had just found the footage of your family and had been through so much those few days I couldn't tell you. You needed to rediscover your father for yourself."

"You could have...you  _should_  have told me… I'm not a child Hetty!"

Hetty smiled sadly, "That is true and yet in a way you were my child and I worry for you. I will always worry for you."

"And if we hadn't found Jake….A...alive?" his voice cracking on the last word.

"Then I would have lived with the guilt forever and you wouldn't have had that guilt as you could have blamed me and my actions."

Callen looked at his feet, not able to look her in the eye.

"Thank you…" he mumbled.

* * *

"I don't care….I'm not staying here and you can't make me!" Deeks yelled as he threw a water jug across the room.

"Mr. Deeks...the injuries you suffered…." The doctor started arguing.

"Are minor. I know this I've had them before, I need to leave you can't keep me locked up in here...I can't do this again!" He couldn't help the tear that escaped.

The others had gone as visiting hours had ended, the more time went on the more he was reminded of the secure unit he had been locked up in. Flashbacks were coming thick and fast, he needed to get out of there.

"I will call your next of kin, we will see what we can do, but if you do not calm down Mr. Deeks we will have to sedate you."

"Over my dead body." Deeks snapped. "Gimme a phone!"

The doctor all but ran out of the room and stopped at the sight of a large African American man with a badge and a beautiful woman by his side.

"What's going on?" Sam asked.

"I have an uncooperative patient inside, he's threatening to leave, I was just about to call his next of kin." The doctor said feeling very harassed.

"We'll take care of it. We are his family." Sam said.

"Very well." The doctor said heading off to look at Deeks' notes.

"Marty?" Kensi called as she slowly opened the door and looked at the empty bed.

"Kens?" Marty's scared voice came from the corner as he sat with his arms over his head. "I didn't get my meds Kens...I can hear him...he's laughing...laughing at me...calling me weak."

She wrapped her arms around him ignoring the looks Sam gave her as she kissed his head. "It's ok...We're here now Marty. Sam's here too, he'll get your meds and we'll take you home ok?"

She relaxed as Deeks nodded and Sam walked out of the room in search of a soon to be ex-doctor.

* * *

Caroline jumped in surprise as the main gate buzzed. She had heard from Kensi about the mistake that happened with Marty's medicine and she knew they were leaving soon to come home. She was on the phone to Jeff Versey, filling him in on the events at the hospital as she knew them.

"Hold on…" She left the line open as she went to the intercom. "Hello….Who?... LAPD?... What problem?...Of course I'll let you up." she pressed the button for the security gate.

Walking back to the phone she picked it up, "It's ok Jeff, it's the LAPD there has been reports of a disturbance here. it's probably Malicious. We get that from time to time." She informed him.

"Caroline hang on the line, I'll just check…" Jeff said as he pulled up the report page on his computer.

"Ok...oh hang on I have to answer the…" There was a crash as the door the was kicked in. "What?! NO!...Who are you?...Help...No!" Caroline screamed and the line went dead.

Jeff dropped the handset and ran into Bates' office interrupting a meeting.

"Detective Versey?" Bates looked up the annoyance on his face being replaced with worry as he saw the look on the detective's face.

"Some guys have just kicked their way into the shelter." Versey told him.

"Which shelter, get some black and whites to go…" Bates waved it away.

"Err...no...Lieutenant... _ **THE**_ _Shelter_ …." Versey insisted.

"Ah….Ok, Jeff Versey. This is Jacqueline Rivera, Internal Affairs, she cleared Deeks and I think she had better come with us." Bates said as he grabbed his gun. "I'll fill you in in the car." He added to her as the three of them hurried to help.

* * *

The four men came into the building and Caroline hit the panic alarm, which rang in the local precinct and in the building so the residents could lock their doors.

"Who are you, I've called the police." Caroline said bravely squaring up to them.

"We are the police…" The same man who had hit Deeks said.

"You hurt my boy." Caroline said fury evident in her voice.

"He knows too much and could put us away…. He pretended to be Deeks but we know he's really Max. He's a mean son of a bitch who deserved everything that happened to him. He destroyed a good thing we had going and he killed a cop. He's gonna pay before we all go down. We know he's got files on us all and he's living here. We want them."

"I don't know about any files." Caroline said moving away only to find her arms being grabbed by another man. " _ **GET OFF ME!**_ " she snarled ripping her arms from his grip.

"You should learn your place woman." he snapped.

Caroline let out a sarcastic laugh, "What do you think this place is? I've learned my place and I found my place and it is NOT to be pushed around by the likes of you!" She turned and slapped him around the face.

He smiled and twisted her arms and put her in handcuffs. "Well that's assault on a police officer."

"You're an insult to your badge….NO! Stop...Keep away from there!" she yelled as they headed to the stairs. "Damn you!"

Even with her hands tied behind her back she was relentless. There were innocent women and children up there and she was damned they were going to be hurt.

She rammed herself bodily into the body of the man heading to the stairs, "You leave them alone!"

"He's here is he?" One man spat with an evil grin, "I thought we worked Deeks over good...hoped he was dead."

Caroline turned and kicked him in the testicles, smiling wryly as he let out a high pitched squeal and doubled up in pain.

"You touch him again and I'll rip them off!" she snarled.

The man stood up and hobbled over backhanding her around the face, "I'll kill you for that…" he vowed.

"I don't think so…" Sam's voice made them jump. "Federal Agents you are all under arrest."

"I don't think so we're cops, she's resisting arrest."

"She's not broken any laws." Jeff said as he entered and unlocked Caroline's cuffs. "Are you ok?" he asked concerned.

Caroline gave a sad smile, "I've had worse."

Bates walked in, "Ok, You lot are under arrest, I have a van coming, Rivera, this is the lot that attacked ex-LAPD Detective Deeks, they were working with Stimson, they have admitted it."

Jacqueline Rivera smiled, "Mrs Deeks will you agree to testify?"

She walked up the the man who hit her and looked him in the eye. "In a heartbeat." she snarled at him, "I'll enjoy watching you go down...you know what they do to cops in prison don't you?" She smiled as Bates and Rivera led them away.

"Damn you're feisty." Versey said in awe of her, "I can see where Deeks gets it from."

Caroline smiled, "They picked on the wrong woman, I'm not a victim, none of us here are, we are survivors." Walking over she hit the panic button again and another bell rang throughout the house.

"All clear." she explained to them.

"Marty's outside, I thought it would be best to find out what was going on here first before he came in." Sam said, but was forestalled by arguing at the door.

"Just let me in! I live here! MOM!" Deeks yelled trying to get past the uniformed officer as Kensi tried to get him back into the car.

Caroline pushed past them all and ran to her son.

"Marty...Marty...I'm ok...it's over." Caroline pulled Deeks into a hug and pulled him past the officer and into the house.

 


	32. Chapter 32

Deeks sat listening to his mother as she gave her statement about what happened to Sam and Jeff at the same time, refusing to go to either the boat-shed or the LAPD precinct citing the fact that she had too much to do to waste time with different agencies measuring their testosterone against each other, then with a smile reminding both men what she had done to the testosterone of the last man to mess with her.

Deeks had stifled a laugh as they both instantly said "Yes Ma'am." and sat meekly at the large kitchen table.

"Deeks, You don't need to listen to this." Versey said worried for his friend.

"As Caroline Deeks' lawyer I am entitled to be here to give her counsel if she so wishes." He said shooting his mother a hopeful look.

"You're a lawyer?" Versey asked.

"Ex- Public defender, my license is current, kept up annually. Hetty made sure it didn't lapse while I was away." Deeks explained.

Sam nodded knowing that Hetty had done everything possible to make sure that if Deeks was able to come back to them fully that he would have something to come back to even if it wasn't NCIS.

"Ok...So if your client would like to tell us what happened." Jeff said and listened intently as again Caroline recapped what happened. All three men in the room wincing when she explained how she had delivered her own brand of justice to the rogue cop.

* * *

Kensi was in the backyard watching as Monty ran around sniffing the night air and nudging a lanky teenage boy who was sitting on a bench in the far side of the yard as far away from people as he could get.

She walked around the yard so he could see her coming.

"Hey." She said as she sat near him but not too close, "You ok?" she asked.

The boy shrugged, "Suppose." he replied. "Too many cops in there for my liking."

Kensi nodded, "I know what you mean, you been here long?" he asked.

The boy shook his head, as he turned to her she could see the slight marks of fading bruising. "About two weeks." he admitted. "My mom and little sister are with me, we were lucky. The last shelter we tried wouldn't keep us together as I'm too old to stay with her, mom met Angie and she told us about this place. It's better than the streets." He looked at her, "You coming to stay?" he asked shyly with a slight smile.

She shook her head, "My friend lives here, I just brought him home from the hospital, saw all the cops."

"You Marty's friend?" He asked, "Marty is awesome. Mom says he's a lawyer, he's gonna help to keep my...to keep him away."

"Your dad?" Kensi asked.

The boy gave a curt nod and turned away.

"Don't worry if anyone can do it Marty can."

"Marty can what?" Deeks asked as he walked up to the couple, "Simon, are you monopolizing my girl?" he asked with a grin.

Simon blushed, "Marty!" he exclaimed.

"Your girl?" Kensi asked grinning at Simon. "You know Simon here is twice the gentleman you are, I might let him take me on a date."

"I...I gotta go…" Simon blushed again. "Nice to meet you Kensi."

Kensi smiled, "I mean it Simon, you are a real gentleman and it was a pleasure to meet you. You tell your mother she should be proud of you."

Simon gave Monty a quick stroke and ran inside.

"He's a great kid." Kensi smiled as Deeks sat down next to her.

"He is, you should have seen him when he arrived, he was a wreck. He's blossomed here."

He found his hand brushing against hers their little fingers entwining.

"How are you?" Kensi asked.

Deeks took a deep breath, "Honestly...? Not good." he admitted, "They hurt my mom Kens, I only just got her back and...and they tried to hurt her."

He shook as he thought how close he'd come to losing her.

Kensi moved and held his hand, "She's ok Deeks. She's going to be fine." She smiled, "I can see where you get your drive and determination from."

"Thanks." Deeks said turning to her. "Thank you for still being here."

She smiled at him, "Where else would I be Deeks?" she asked.

"Well, maybe out catching criminals...working, not spending time with a freelance, broke, pro-bono lawyer."

"You're going back to law?" she asked surprised.

Deeks smiled, "Only for people here. It's my way of giving back and working for my room and board."

Kensi smiled and Deeks' heart fluttered, although he would never have admitted it, but Kensi's smile was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

"Maybe I've been waiting to meet a lawyer, kinda like the idea of dating one."

Deeks smirked, "Maybe I'll meet one you can date." he suggested.

Kensi punched him in the arm. "Douche." she joked, turning to look at him her next words were cut off as he kissed her.

She sat back stunned for a second. "Deeks I…Marty?"

Marty moved to get up, "I'm sorry, I just….I…" he stopped as she pushed him gently to the ground and kissed him back.

"I've been wanting to do that for so long." Kensi smiled, "I thought I had lost you...I...I don't want to lose you again Marty." she confessed.

"I'm not going anywhere." he breathed holding her close.

* * *

Callen lay in his bed in the new house he and Joelle had brought.

She was sound asleep her arm draped across his chest.

He smiled as he heard Jake moving in his new room, his feet stomping across the floor and his dvd player starting up to play Ice Age for the millionth time.

He wasn't looking forward to today.

Callen had planned on a surprise for Jake for later today. Wanda had talked to him about it last week. After some coaxing from Wanda and Bert he gave in and agreed that maybe it would be a good idea.

That part he was looking forward too, the look on his son's face when he saw what it would be.

Joelle had already brought the things he needed for the surprise all he needed to do was pick up the surprise itself. Keeping this a surprise from Jake had been a feat in itself. Jake was a lot like his father and was into everything, he was a born investigator and even Callen had to smile when he had told Joelle in class that he wanted to be a policeman when he grew up.

But before he could pick up the surprise, he had another job to do.

He had been putting it off for weeks, after talking it over with Nate and discussing it with Joelle he had been told that it would be alright for him to take this step. For them all to heal he had to do this.

So, listening to his son laugh along at his dvd Callen slipped out from under his fiancee's arm and slowly sat up.

Joelle stretched as his movement woke her. "Did you get any sleep at all?" she asked.

He yawned and turned to give her a smile, "Some…" He admitted. "You guys gonna be alright today?" he asked.

"Sure, Jake wants to buy something for his little brother or sister, so we are going shopping, then I promised before we went home we would stop in the diner for lunch." She told him, "Wanda promised him mile high pancakes."

Callen smiled, "Ma hasn't told him yet that six pancakes aren't really a mile high."

"Jake knows, but our son is insistent that the chocolate ice cream makes them taller." Joelle grinned.

Callen smiled, it had been a big step for Jake to start calling Joelle mom, but as soon as he had done it, he had taken the woman into his heart as firmly as he had been taken into hers. She was his mother now and nothing would change that.

Callen headed to the shower and stood thinking under the spray.

He hoped more than anything that this was the right thing to do. He knew it wasn't the right thing for him, but it was probably the right thing for Jake and that was the important thing.

Driving to Los Angeles, knowing he had three places to go he wasn't sure which one to do first…. Scratch that...he knew exactly where he had to go first, everything else would hinge on how this would go.

He walked up to the gate and pressed the buzzer, hoping that the person he had driven so far to see was actually home.

He took a deep breath as the intercom crackled.

"Hello?"

"Hi...my names Callen, I'm here to see Marty Deeks."

 


	33. Chapter 33

Callen walked up the path and was surprised and pleased that Deeks came to the door, he was barefoot in jeans and Monty was padding around his legs.

Deeks bent down and patted Monty on the head, "Go find mommy boy." he smiled as the dog went in search of Kensi.

Callen looked at him, properly for the first time in years.

Deeks had lost weight, he looked more toned and more tanned than he had in years, only the wrinkles in the corner of his eyes belayed the years he had lived through.

"Good to see you Callen." Deeks said making no move to shake his head.

Callen gave a curt nod, "You too Deeks." He replied.

Deeks stepped back to allow him entry. "Come into my office and we'll talk."

Callen moved to follow but he noticed the way Deeks was keeping himself under control.

They walked down a corridor, Callen stopped as Kensi walked sleepily out of a room Monty trotting happily at her heels.

"Kensi?" Callen was shocked but not surprised, she knew that Kensi had held a torch for Deeks for a while, and now he was back he assumed that they had either just restarted or had kindled their relationship.

"Callen…" Kensi held onto Callen's arm as Deeks walked into his office. "If you're going to hurt him don't I swear not only will I hunt you down, but Deeks' mother will hunt you down. Ask Sam if you want to know why that is scary." She hissed.

"Kens, I'm not here to hurt Deeks...not at all, just need to sort some things out. That's all." He raised his hands in surrender and stepped back.

"Nate's in there." She warned him.

"I knew he was coming, I need to make sure Deeks is going to be ok."

Kensi wanted to snap at him, but knowing that Callen would turn tail and walk away she kept quiet. She knew that this meeting was important to Deeks, he had known it was coming but it hadn't been until Nate had turned up early that morning that they realized Callen was coming today.

Callen caught up to Deeks who was standing in the doorway waiting for him.

"Deeks? Kensi said I should be scared of your mom. I'm sorry I thought she was dead?"

Deeks smiled, "Get Sam to explain why. She's not dead, the other woman...I thought she was my mother but it wasn't it was her twin." He moved back and Callen could see Nate, he nodded in greeting. "Come into my office." he said and moved to behind his desk.

Callen took in the surroundings.

The furniture was worn and faded, obviously recycled but the room had a light and airy feeling to it. The desk was oak, a few scratches on the feet but it was well worn and loved. There was a large bookcase along one wall the shelves lined with tomes on the law.

Callen sat in the chair that Deeks indicated, "Did you want a coffee or something?" Deeks asked.

"I'm good thanks." Callen replied.

"Let's get on with this then." Nate said, "You both know why we are here." He had taken on the role of mediator for this meeting and it looked like both men were wary of saying the wrong thing.

Deeks sat up hands clasped together on his desk.

* * *

"I want to be kept informed on how Jake is doing." Deeks said. "I am not asking for contact. I can't...after what I...Max, did to him, seeing me now would damage him. I want to be given copies of his school reports, a picture or two...maybe be allowed to contribute to his schooling."

At his first sentence Callen exhaled a sigh of relief, Deeks didn't want Jake back. Maybe he didn't remember the clause in the contract that said he could have the boy back anytime he wanted him. His fingers clasped an inch tighter on the folder in his hand.

"I have a current picture with me, had some done after he had his hair cut last week."

He pulled out a picture of a smiling happy 6 year old in a plaid shirt and jeans looking every inch a carbon copy of his biological father.

Callen handed it across the desk to Deeks who marveled at the fact the boy seemed to be a perfect marriage of him and Sara, his blond hair, blue eyes. Right down to a smaller copy of Deeks' grin.

He traced his finger over the picture not caring that both Nate and Callen were watching him intently.

"I want to alter the terms of the adoption." Deeks said.

"NO!" Callen jumped to his feet, "You can't take him from me Deeks!"

"That's not what he's saying." Nate said calmly.

"That's not what I am saying." Deeks reiterated. "Jake is happy with you,  _you_  are his father. I am asking to close the loophole in the adoption papers that say that I can request at any moment the return of my son. I would like you to ask him if he could write me a letter once a year, just so I can get a feel from him as to what he's thinking. To make sure he's alright. He does know I'm his father doesn't he?" Deeks asked.

"He knows he had a father and that his father was too ill to raise his son so I adopted him." Callen said trying to control the shaking that was tearing through his body. "He doesn't know his father was the man that kidnapped him." he tacked on crudely.

Deeks nodded, "I understand Callen, I do remember a few periods of lucidity where I got to talk to Jake. I have a question. Will you let Jake meet me if in the future he wanted to do so?"

"I think so...his mother and I want what's best for him." Callen replied.

"His mother?" Deeks asked.

Callen smiled, "I am engaged, to Jake's teacher Joelle we are expecting our second child."

"You don't treat Jake any differently from your first do you?" Deeks asked concerned.

Callen shook his head, "Jake _is_  our first. Don't worry Deeks, I would never allow Jake to be harmed again. All Joelle and I want, is for Jake to have a safe and happy life. To answer your question the answer is yes. If Jake ever expressed an interest in finding you I would move heaven and earth to make sure you were reunited. His welfare is all that matters."

Deeks smiled, "Thank you."

* * *

He opened a file on his desk and handed a contract and an unsealed envelope to Callen, This is a new adoption agreement I have drafted, it renounces all claims I had left on Jake. I...I do care about him Callen, the letter to Jake is unsealed and for you to give him when you feel he is old enough to understand. It explains, somewhat, the events that happened. Where Max came from, why he took him and why I cannot be his father and why I was pleased you are. Just know that I do love him, in a way I always will he is my flesh and blood son. But I cannot care for him. I am getting better but after what happened….I cannot see him right now without causing him pain...Right?" Deeks asked looking over at Nate for clarification.

Callen looked over at Nate, "You're discussing Jake's sessions with you?" He asked.

Nate shook his head, "No...not specifics, but it is inevitable that Jake would have issues if Marty was introduced as his father are going through some changes of your own Callen and I thought it would be a good idea for Deeks to let you know where he stood with Jake, so you didn't have the worry to deal with as your life moved on."

Callen nodded, "Thank you Deeks. I am glad you are healing and I know you were not...yourself...when...you know...Jake." He felt a little lost for words, he hadn't known what was going to happen but it seemed that all he had to do was read the form, sign it and the adoption would be completely finished. Callen looked at the form reading it thoroughly.

"What if you change your mind again?" He asked pen in his hand.

Deeks shook his head, "Jake was never really mine, he's always been your son, he loves you and he's always felt like Max's son not mine. I never did the lammas classes with Sara or the doctors appointments and sonograms. Maybe one day if Kensi and I have kids things will be different. You should know though with Sara Giamatti being his mother, and Marc his uncle Jake is entitled to the share of the estate that the FBI didn't confiscate."

Callen nodded, whatever it was he would put it aside for Jake, maybe he could use it toward college or a trip.

Callen signed the adoption form and then Deeks handed another folder over to him. "As Max I inherited half, the other half is in a check here for you to open an account for Jake."

Callen looked at the envelope and nodded.

"You might want to check that."

"I'm sure it'll be fine, I'll let him know it's from his mother and that he can use it towards a car or something when he hits eighteen."

Deeks smiled, "You  _really_  want to look at that."

Callen sighed and opened the envelope and looked at the check.

" **Holy.. _._ _whoa_! What?!** " he exclaimed in shock.

Deeks smiled, "I was looking at the finances and I checked around, The Giamatti fortune was worth one hundred and thirty million dollars. The FBI determined that thirty million was to be confiscated, mostly drug money, but one hundred million was legit. You are holding a check for fifty million there."

"I don't want it...Jake doesn't want it." Callen stood up and backed away from the money afraid he would lose the lovely boy he had raised and have a spoiled rich kid, like the ones in his childhood he had despised.

"It's Jake's. It is also your responsibility for him to learn to control his money."

Callen took another look around the office again. Scratched yes, but old? No not old antique. I have the number of an Ex FBI accountant who can be trusted not to screw Jake out of his money.

"What did you do with your share?" Callen asked curiosity getting the better of him.

It's in trust to be used to fund and run this shelter permanently. He pushed one more envelope Callen's way. "This is for you, to help raise Jake."

Callen looked at the check inside. "I'm not taking that Deeks. I work for what I have and I intend to continue to work for what I have."

"I feel the same way, I will be working, this helps it means I can help my clients for free. You can still work Callen, it just means you don't have to struggle, Jake and your new child won't have to struggle." Deeks said, "Please, I need to do this, I need to provide for my ...for Jake and the only way I can do that is like this."

"It's too much Deeks." Callen looked at the check in his hands in shock.

"No it's not...it's not enough, not for what you have done for me. You stood on my side when I was at my lowest ebb, you took care of my son when every rule in the book tells you to call child services. You raised him with nothing, alone and in a trailer. I asked around, I know how bad a shape that trailer was in. The only decent room was Jake's, you went without and gave him everything. You could have shot me when you found me with him. But you didn't. You understood, you made sure I was getting help and I know how you depleted your savings putting money on my medical bills, think of this as a repayment with interest." Deeks insisted.

"How did you find out about me paying your medical bills?" Callen asked.

Deeks grinned, "I'm a lawyer." He said nothing more and left the implication hanging in the air.

"Come and have a coffee and something to eat, I can't let you drive back as you are right now. Besides my mom wants to meet you."

Callen nodded, took the folder and put the checks into it and followed him out.

Kensi and Caroline were looking over kitchen plans as they entered.

"So you both alright?" Kensi asked.

Callen nodded, "Thanks Kens. I am a bit in shock but yeah."

Kensi smiled, "Marty fainted when they told him." She said conspiratorially.

"Kens!" Deeks laughed as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her cheek. "She's right though, but it came just at the right time. The day after mom was attacked by the same guys who attacked me, we got a notice of foreclosure on this building. We were all worried that we were going to be kicked out on the streets. Then out of the blue I got a call from Director Vance. He had been asked to call me as I knew him. The FBI told me about the money and I decided that it was going to be put to good use. We brought the house and the land. Kensi and I are building a house for us with a small law office at the back. We are doing up the building and this place will be a safe refuge for many years to come." He said proudly.

 


	34. Chapter 34

Nate walked up behind Callen as he watched Deeks and Kensi help get the shelters kids ready to catch the schoolbus. To him it was reminiscent of some of the nicer group homes he had lived in. He watched Deeks carefully. This was the Deeks he had trusted to have his back, the Deeks he missed. This was the Deeks he wanted to remember. Not the Deeks who had hurt his boy, not the Deeks who had sworn to kill him in the hospital bed.

For a moment he found himself wondering how much like Deeks, Jake would become when he grew and how much like himself he would be.

"You ok?" Nate asked quietly nodding towards the door to the back yard. Nate grabbed the folder Callen had left on the table as he left.

Callen nodded and followed Nate out.

"Do you think I did the right thing Nate, signing that paper?" He asked looking at the folder in Nate's hand.

"You did the right thing. One day Jake will be old enough to understand what happened and maybe he'll want to meet Deeks. But for now both of you are thinking about what is right for the boy."

"Deeks is OK though isn't he? I mean...he's not gonna lose it and come after Jake again? That, in there, was the Deeks I remember before he went missing."

"Deeks is Deeks...The medication he will have to take for the rest of his life. He had said I could tell you if you asked. He would never be granted a firearms license again, he has some residual damage for the whole experience, mostly where he was hit around the head by Marc Giamatti. But he is one hundred percent Deeks now."

Callen nodded, "Hold on." he said coming to a decision, he walked back into the house. "Ma'am do you have a pen and a piece of paper I could use?" he asked Caroline.

"Sure son, no problem." She smiled handing him the items.

Callen leaned against the table and wrote on the paper. Handing the rest of the paper and the pen back he thanked Caroline and went to join Nate outside.

"Here." He said handing Nate the paper. "When you are absolutely sure that Deeks will never be a threat to Jake again you can give him this. It's our new address. Deeks can write to Jake as well if he wants to."

"Are you sure?" Nate asked.

"Yeah…." Callen let out a breath, "Yeah...It'll be good for Jake...I think. You are still gonna come and work with him aren't you…" Callen grinned, "I can pay you now you know."

"Yeah you can...I broke my toaster the other day, so our original arrangement still stand yeah?"

Callen looked at him surprised, "You're not gonna start charging?"

"For Family? Callen I've been your counselor for years, I don't help you for the money, I help you guys because you are my family and I care about you." Nate said honestly.

"Thanks." Callen said swallowing a lump that appeared in his throat.

"Our family is a little broken at the moment, but I'm still hopeful that it will be fixed."

"Nate…" Callen growled in warning, "I am not going back to NCIS. Jake needs me."

"Fair enough, what about Hetty?" Nate asked, he turned as Kensi giggled in the kitchen as Deeks grabbed her and spun her round.

"I don't know Nate." Callen moved away from the laughing in the kitchen and sat on the porch steps. Caroline looked through the window and nodded at Nate and moved to stop Deeks going outside.

Nate moved to sit next to him.

"It's been a while...Have you talked to her since that day at the meeting."

Callen shook his head, "I can't...I haven't...I mean what the hell do I say to her Nate?" He asked his voice rising with the stress, "OK...you've been like a mother to me since I was a teenager, I've been in and out of your life since then but yeah you've always been there for me. But you lied to me, you betrayed me...oh and you forgot to tell me you were  _married_  to my  _ **father**_! But I'm gonna be OK with the fact you've lied to me, and you put my son in danger….God Nate! I need to be able to move past this crap, I need to be able to look at her without feeling like a hurt kid!"

Callen stood and started pacing.

"You are a hurt kid Callen, you are  _ **her**_ hurt kid. How do you think she feels about that?" Nate asked.

"I'm not a kid." Callen protested.

Nate raised his hands, "OK...poor choice of words. How would you feel if Jake looked at you with as much hatred as you look at Hetty, because you haven't told him his father was the same man who hurt him."

Callen came to an abrupt halt.

"You think he'll hate me?" Callen asked his voice shook with fear.

"What are you feeling right now."

"Horror, hurt, fear, guilt...scared...scared that my actions will cost me my son." He looked at Nate in shock. "Do you think Hetty is feeling all that because of me? I mean I am not her biological son?"

"Jake isn't your biological son, but that's how you feel isn't it?" Nate pushed.

" _God Nate_...I've been so blind! I need to go see her."

Nate handed him a card, "She's here, she won't live in the other houses."

"But that's…?" he looked at the address in shock.

"Go see her, I'll make your excuses inside, hit the green button by the gate to leave. Here, I brought the file with me, get those checks paid in after you see her." Nate advised.

Callen nodded and all but ran for the car.

* * *

He wasn't sure if he had broken any traffic laws on the way to the address he had once lived at, but he had to get there the gnawing in his gut was growing stronger.

He pulled up outside the small blue beach house and ran to the door. His instinct was to get the key from the hiding space she had kept it in for him, but he was scared to see if it was there anymore.

So he knocked.

He listened as the locks were undone from inside and waited. The door opened and Hetty looked up in surprise.

"Mr. Callen?"

"I...Hetty I'm sorry." he said.

"Come on in." She moved to allow him access, "I was out on the patio, would you care to join me?" she asked her voice neutral.

He nodded and headed outside, where as he expected there was a pot of tea on the outside table. He sat and looked up the beach at the rolling waves.

"What can I do for you?" Hetty asked as she sat.

"I'm sorry." he said again.

"My dear boy what for?" Hetty asked looking at the sorrow on her stepson's face.

"I didn't realize all the pain I had caused you. The reasons why you did what you did...why I have done what I've done. All for Jake's own good."

Hetty gave a small smile. "Our reasoning may at times be wrong, our actions a mistake, but always, we have the good of our children in our hearts."

"I understand if you don't want anything to do with me...I was hurt though, but...I want to try harder to get past this….please...Hetty...mom?"

Hetty's eyes sparkled with unshed tears, "I would like that too."

"I have some bridge building to do, I have made mistakes Het...mom…"

"I did too my son," Hetty replied. "But if you are willing to allow me into your life I would like to be a part of it."

"I would like that too...I...I still hurt, but I understand where you were coming from, do you understand?" Callen asked sure of what he meant but not sure how to phrase it.

Hetty smiled and nodded.

* * *

"I remember when you first came here…" she said looking over at the beach to hide her tears of joy, "You were such a distrustful and angry child. You wouldn't let me in at all. Duke would talk to you for hours, but you wouldn't trust me. Do you remember when that all changed?"

Callen nodded, "When you were hurt… I was afraid I would lose you. That I would be sent back into the system, you came home with a wound on your side. You wouldn't tell me what happened but you and Duke talked for hours and I overheard him asking if I was going to stay."

Hetty nodded, "I know…"

"And I ran in terrified you were going to send me back and begged you to stay."

"You didn't talk to Duke for six months after that."

"He didn't want me." Callen snapped.

"No…" Hetty waited as Callen calmed down. "I had been shot, the Comescu's found you with me, the one thing I was trying to avoid. Which was why I hadn't taken you in sooner. Duke wanted to send you back into the system as you had been safer in there. But I did what was best for you. I kept you with me."

"And I learned to trust you." Callen nodded.

"Sometimes being a parent can hurt. However, as long as you my son were safe and you had learned something to your advantage, such as learning to trust, all my pain was worth it."

"And you did it again, to teach me to trust Sam and the team again."

Hetty nodded, "You needed to trust Sam, to use his expertise to find Jake. My pain knowing you would distrust me as much as you did Duke that time was worth it because working with Mr. Hanna, Miss Jones and Mr. Gibbs was your best chance of getting your son back. You and Jake are more important to me."

"Thank you." Callen said.

Hetty smiled, "It will be a long road Mr. Callen, but I hope one day we can get back what we have lost."

Callen smiled, "Hetty….How do you feel about puppies?" he asked.

 


	35. Chapter 35

The car pulled up at a farm about a mile from Phelan.

"Where are we Mr. Callen?" Hetty asked as he turned off the engine.

"This is Bert's brothers farm, I'm here to pick up something for Jake, I was hoping you'd help me pick," He said cryptically.

Hetty nodded and got out of the car as they walked towards the farmhouse.

"Greg." Fred, Bert's brother waved as he walked down the porch.

"Hey Fred, how's the generator?" Callen asked.

"Never better, you did a remarkable job on it." He smiled, "You have first pick, so a boy or a girl?" He said heading towards the barn.

"Boy I think. No chance of puppies down the line then." Callen laughed.

They walked into the barn where a German Shepard mother was lying watching over her pups.

Hetty smiled at the small bundles of fur that were rolling over each other.

"Are they weaned?" she asked concerned.

"Yes Ma'am, although occasionally they still feed from their mother." Fred said looking at the smaller woman.

Callen walked over to the mother, "Hey lulabelle, I bet you're glad you've finally had them." He turned to Hetty, "Last time I was here she was very pregnant." He explained.

"So is she a working dog?" Hetty asked.

Fred shook his head, "Nope house pet, but she picked the barn to have her puppies, I didn't have the heart to move her."

A small puppy walked over to Callen and sniffed his feet then started tugging at his shoelace.

Callen smiled as he lifted him up, "This one I think." he said as the puppy licked his face.

* * *

Pulling up outside the house he took out his cellphone, "Jo...you home honey?" he asked.

"I'm in the garage." she said and the garage door opened.

Hetty's eyes widened as she took in the heavily pregnant woman, "You're having a child?"

Callen smiled, "I didn't mention it?" He was smug knowing he hadn't told her. For a moment he relished in the shocked look on her face until she quickly covered it with a smile.

"No...Congratulations." She said.

"Hello?" Joelle said as she saw the smaller woman.

"Jo...This is Hetty, she's my bos...stepmother."

"Your Stepmother?" Joelle asked in shock.

Callen grinned, "We've been estranged, but I think we may have found some common ground."

Joelle looked worried for a second and then turned to Hetty, "You are not planning on hurting him or our son again are you Hetty?" she asked.

Hetty shook her head, "I would never want us to be estranged again, this chance means a lot to me Miss Taylor."

It was Callen's turn to do a double take. "You know her name?"

"I knew her as young Mr. Callen's class teacher, I…" she stopped realizing she had maybe done it again, "I had his school teachers background checked, in case they were Comescus." she admitted.

Callen nodded in understanding, he had done the same thing.

"Who?" Joelle asked.

"Family from Romania who killed my mother." Callen explained. "So...Dog bed and supplies?" He asked changing the subject.

Joelle pointed to the corner, "Just the dog bed, Jake's watching Ice Age again so I've managed to sneak the rest into the house. Did you get it?" She asked.

Callen walked back over to the car and opened a box in the back, pulling out and holding the fluffy puppy close he walked over to his fiancee. "It's a boy." He said.

"Oh that reminds me…" Joelle reached into her pocket and pulled out a sonogram, "It's a boy."

She smiled as Callen pulled her into his arms trying carefully not to crush the puppy. "Jake was thrilled you let him go instead of you, he wanted to share his room with his little brother, he was disappointed that we were not bringing him home today...oh and G...you will need to have a talk with him...he wants to know how his little brother got in there." Joelle smirked as she handed G the dog bed.

" _ **Jo**_!" Callen sighed and turned as he and Hetty followed her into the house.

"Jake! Daddy's home!" Joelle called.

* * *

There was a thunderous sound of footsteps as Jake ran down the stairs, "Daddy...did you bring him! Did you bring my little brother?" He called as he ran headlong into his father and hugged his legs.

"Hey sprout!" Callen lifted him up into a hug.

"Daddy...Mommy has my little brother in her tummy...did you get him from the doctors?" he asked still confused about babies.

Callen smiled, "Nope getting your little brother out will be all mommy's job. But he needs to get a bit bigger, he's too small for clothes. If he's born now he'll get cold." He explained.

"But I have old clothes he can use, why can't he come out now?" Jake asked.

"Because babies need time to grow before they can get born, it's just the way it is." Callen said slightly exasperated.

"But _ **why**_?" Jake asked. Then he stopped as a box on the floor moved. "Daddy? What's that?"

"Something to keep you busy until your brother gets here." Callen smiled.

Jake walked over to the box and opened it. "A  _puppy_? You got me  _a puppy_?!" he gave a huge smile, Callen's heart clenched at the happiness his son was exuding.

"Yep you need to name him." Callen said as Jake stroked the puppy in the box.

"Me?!" Jake looked at the puppy seriously. "Scrat...his name is Scrat...he looks like the squirrel on Ice Age." He announced seriously.

"Ok…" Callen walked over to Jake and got down on one knee scratching the puppy behind the ear. "You have to look after Scrat like a big brother, you will need to walk him, feed him. Your mom and I will help with that. Also you will need to love and protect him can you do that?" he asked solemnly.

Jake nodded, then finally he noticed the woman by the door. He moved to put himself between this stranger and the puppy and grabbed hold of Callen's shirt sleeve.

* * *

"Daddy? There's a stranger...Mommy taught us in class that we should tell a grown up we trust when we see a stranger. And…" Jake gulped. "Daddy...she isn't going to take me from you again is she?"

Callen picked his son up in a hug and walked over to the couch. Sitting down with his son on his knee he smiled and got his attention.

"Jake, do you remember how Mommy is going to be your mommy for real when we get married?" Callen asked.

Jake nodded, "My first mommy is in heaven with the angels and a bad man made my first daddy sick so I had to come live with you."

Hetty's heart clenched listening to the child tell Callen how he understood the circumstances surrounding his birth.

"Well, This is Hetty. She's my mommy like Joelle is your mommy. My first mommy went to heaven too and she married my daddy a long time ago. Do you understand?"

Jake looked at Hetty in confusion.

"Isn't Grandma Wanda your mommy?" Jake asked.

"No Jake, but she is still my ma and your grandma. She loves us just like mommy loves you. Her and Grandpa Bert are a special part of our lives. They are not there because they have to be. They are there because they love us and they want to be there."

"Ok." Jake said not taking his eyes off the smaller woman. "So…" he climbed off Callen's lap and walked towards her.

He cocked his head and turned his bright blue eyes at her. "If you are my Grandma...Why don't I know you?"

 


	36. Chapter 36

Hetty sat as the small boy watched her awaiting an answer.

Joelle went to say something but Callen shook his head. He wanted to see what she would say as well.

"Well Mr Callen." Hetty started.

"My name is Jake...Mr. Callen is my daddy." Jake replied.

Callen stifled a chuckle.

"Jake." Hetty amended. "A long time ago, when you were a tiny baby, you would spend a lot of time with your father at my house. However there was a problem and some people said things they didn't mean and your daddy got upset. He took you here to keep you safe and I lost touch with him. I looked for your daddy for a very long time."

"Like hidin' seek?" Jake asked.

Hetty and Callen laughed. "Just like hide 'n Seek." she agreed looking at Callen.

Callen smiled warmly remembering the few times he had been hiding, his thoughts straying back to Eugene Keelson for a second and him being alone before the team could help him knowing at that time he had still had the backup of Hetty's if he had needed it.

"You know your daddy is really good at hide 'n' seek. It took us a long time to find him and you. Unfortunately when we found him you were not there."

"Because the bad man took me?" Jake asked sadly.

Hetty looked at Callen who nodded.

"Yes, but then I made a mistake and upset your daddy while trying to do what I thought was the right thing to do."

"Like when mommy makes me eat peas?" Jake asked making a face.

Hetty nodded. "Yes and daddy was upset with me."

"Did you get a timeout too?" Jake asked. "Mommy sends me to timeout if I am bad and make her upset." He explained.

Hetty nodded. "Yes young man, I guess you can say I was in timeout and now I have to behave but I was allowed to come and see you."

Jake nodded and turned to climb on his dad's lap wrapping his arms around his neck and whispering into his ear.

"Daddy...will Grandma Hetty go away again?" he asked.

"I don't think so. Not if she can help it. She lives a long way from here in Los Angeles but I hope she will visit us as much as she can."

Jake nodded and climbed back down weighing the smaller woman up in his mind, a move reminiscent of Deeks when Hetty had first handed him the form to become LAPD Liaison.

"Ok...You will, won't you Grandma Hetty?" he asked.

Hetty smiled, "If it is ok with your mother and father I would love to."

Jake turned and looked at his parents. "Will Grandma Hetty have to share my room as well as the new baby?" he asked.

Callen smiled and shook his head, "Nope. But I think that maybe we can fix the house up and everyone including Grandma Hetty, Grandpa Bert and Grandma Wanda can all have their own room."

"Cool can I play with scrat?" Jake asked as the puppy jumped up at his leg.

Callen nodded and Jake picked up a ball and ran into the backyard the puppy following happily after him.

* * *

"G?" Joelle asked, "Remodelling the house, are you sure we can afford it, We just had enough to make the mortgage repayments on the house?" She sat down rubbing at her stomach worried.

Callen smiled, "Jo...baby it's ok, it's gonna be ok. Jake inherited some money, and we have some too."

"Well if Jake has inherited some money, it's for his education we shouldn't spend it….I mean …" She trailed off as Callen took the first of two checks from his back pocket and placed it in front of her.

"Holy cow!" She was stunned, "That's Jake's?"

Callen nodded, "All his, most for education most for after he's 16, 18, 21 and 25. He'll have it in stages with a final payment when he's Thirty or married whichever happens first. I'm going to see a lawyer about it tomorrow. This is ours." He placed the second check in front of her.

"G!" Joelle gasped, "This is too much."

Callen nodded, "Deeks insisted. It's for us and for Jake."

"What does he want for it?" Joelle asked worried for the child.

"Nothing, he wanted to see me to sign over all rights to Jake. In the original adoption agreement I had left it so if Deeks was well he could take him back at any point."

Callen pulled Joelle into his arms as she started crying, "He's not taking our son is he?" The fear was evident in her voice.

"No, he's ours Jo. Forever, all he asked is to be allowed to write to Jake when Jake is older, and if Jake ever asks to meet him we will let him."

"We would anyway, it's got to be about what is best for our son." Joelle said firmly.

Callen smiled. It was times like this that he knew he had picked the right woman to help complete his family. Strong determined and full of love for their child.

Hetty looked at them, "I know Miss Taylor that Mr. Callen would always do what is good for both you and your son."

Joelle nodded, "I know that," She wiped her eyes, "Sorry, Hormones."

Hetty nodded in understanding.

"We can do the house up, but the very first thing I want to do...Jo I want to buy Jake a bike, a real shiny red bike. He's been asking Santa for one every year, the best I could do was a secondhand one that I did up for him."

Joelle smiled, "That's a brilliant idea, I was thinking of getting one for him as a wedding present. Hetty you will come to the wedding won't you?" she asked.

Hetty smiled, "I would love to attend."

Joelle looked at Callen realizing maybe she should have asked him first but he nodded, after all anything his pregnant girlfriend wanted was alright with him.

* * *

Deeks watched as Kensi smiled at him lighting up the whole room.

He was on cloud nine. He had sorted out the niggling problems he'd had about not providing for Jake and had made his peace with Callen. He had worried about it ever since he had found out about the fortune he and Jake had inherited. His only solution was to put the money to good use helping others.

Nate had come back in telling them that Callen had left. Deeks and Kensi hadn't taken it badly as they both knew that he'd had a lot to process and would need time. He just waited for that day when Jake would start writing to him and hopefully one day they would meet and maybe he could become a surrogate uncle to the boy who shared his DNA.

Nate himself had been in for a shock as he entered to find Deeks smiling like an idiot and twirling Kensi around the room.

"What's happened?" Nate asked after telling them about Callen's departure.

"Kensi's pregnant… I'm going to be a father." Deeks smiled. No matter what he was not going to fail this child.

For a second a dark look of worry crossed his face, Nate made a note of if but said nothing as Kensi hadn't noticed.

"Congratulations you two." He said.

"This is wonderful news." Caroline said.

"I'm going to take my vacation and maternity leave, I'll let Granger know as soon as he gets back from Washington." She smiled.

"We'll have to make the house at the back bigger." Deeks sighed pulling over the plans with a groan which changed to a laugh and slight grimace of pain as Kensi punched him in the shoulder.

"How far along are you?" Nate asked.

"Just a few weeks, I got it confirmed by the doctor this morning while Deeks and Callen were in their meeting this morning."

Deeks looked at the house, "It is going to need to be bigger." He said seriously, "I will need this part for my office and a waiting room, I want the nursery and our room to be on the opposite side of the house."

Kensi nodded in agreement, "And security as well, especially if you want that entrance to your offices there." She said pointing to the door of the house which was outside the perimeter fence.

"It needs to be accessible to everyone in need." Deeks said.

"Maybe, we can just build your office here and have a gap and build the house separately?" Caroline suggested.

"It would take up too much land." Deeks argued, "The kids need space to play."

"But both Lots either side of us are up for sale, they have been for years, no one wanted to buy and build next to a homeless shelter." Caroline argued.

"So we buy them then. Extend the shelter this way," He said pointing to the left, "...and we put my office in this lot and the house stays there." Deeks said his eyes lighting up, "We can do this...a totally free family law center for spousal abuse victims and a bigger shelter for those in need."

Nate looked over the plot, "Deeks, you think you have room for a few extra rooms in your law center?" he asked.

"Sure why?"

"I'm thinking that maybe I could offer counseling and see if I can get some other therapist friends to donate time too."

"Really?" Caroline teared up, "That would be brilliant. I'm...I'm…" she was lost for words and hugged him.

Nate smiled, "It's a good thing you guys are doing here. I'd like to help and be a part of it. If I can."

Deeks nodded and they settled down to plan the new shelter/law center and a brighter future for them all.

 


	37. Chapter 37

A week before Callen and Joelle's wedding, Kensi had been with Deeks as they opened the new shelter and pro bono law offices of Marty Deeks.

Sam, Michelle, Hetty and the rest of the team had turned up Roger Bates and Jeff Versey had both been there in support of Deeks' newfound law career as well.

Kensi leaned against her husband as they sat in chairs on a podium and their local councillor told the waiting press and assembled dignitaries about how Mr. Deeks and his wife had decided to help the local community by personally rebuilding and financing the shelter for abused and battered women and children, then adding the law offices to it. Kensi looked slightly tired as she rubbed her heavily pregnant stomach.

"You ok?" Deeks whispered to her.

Kensi nodded, "Braxton Hicks, don't worry." She shot him a slightly strained smile.

Caroline sitting on the other side of her next to Jeff leaned over "You alright guys?" she asked.

Deeks nodded, "Just the baby practicing again." He smiled and turned his attention back to the speaker who was just announcing him.

"...So, finally you get to hear from the man who made this dream a reality, Mr. Martin Deeks Attorney at Law…"

The crowd clapped as Deeks got up and walked to the podium.

"A few years ago I was in a bad place,I needed help and got it, the results of which you see today. I have always wanted to help those who had helped me when I was a child, you see I have been where some of these families who come here for help have found themselves, I…" Deeks stopped as there was a loud gasp from behind him. "Kens?"

"Deeks my water just broke!"

Deeks turned back and grinned, "Saved by the baby. Ok, I'm gonna go and become a father, this place is now open, please enjoy the open house today, there are staff on hand to answer any questions you might have."

He turned to his mother, "did you call an ambulance?" He asked as the press clamored for questions and Jeff and Roger helped out fielding them as Deeks turned to the matter at hand.

* * *

Early the next morning 7lb 10oz Maisy Jane Deeks was born. Deeks was thrilled at the shock of dark brown hair she had.

"Kens' she's beautiful." he said as he held his daughter and his wife rested. He sent Callen a text message so he could let Jake know when he was ready but knew he was getting ready for his wedding and that having let Wanda and Hetty help the wedding Callen was preparing for was far larger than the small Justice of the peace ceremony Deeks and Kensi had opted for a month after they had found out she was expecting.

He had looked at Kensi in her flower print dress and then had thought she couldn't get more beautiful. He was wrong. Looking at her now, still plastered in sweat and having just given birth to their daughter, she was more beautiful than he had ever seen.

"Everything is finally perfect." he sighed looking down at the small bundle in his arms, he took out his cell phone and snapped a picture sending it off Callen for her big brother, he hoped one day in the future they could meet.

Kensi closed her eyes, smiling as she realised she was now both a wife and a mother, she reached out her hand finding Deeks', be here when I wake?" she asked.

He smiled and kissed her hand, "Always." He promised.

* * *

The day of the wedding dawned bright and clear.

Jake woke up first, slipping out of bed to go and check on his little brother as he slept and he took Scrat outside to relieve himself.

He squealed as his father grabbed him and twirled him around.

"DAD!" he said in a harsh whisper, mindful not to wake anyone. "Don't I'm too old for that now. I'm a big brother, not a little boy!"

Callen laughed, "You are seven years old and in no way, too old." He looked at the chairs being set up by the catering staff who had turned up an hour earlier. "You keeping Scrat away from the workers?" he asked.

Jake nodded solemnly. "Of course, he knows it's special today. When's grandma Hetty getting here?"

"Soon." Callen looked up as the curtains opened in the newer part of the house where Wanda and Bert were staying. "You wanna help me take up a coffee to Grandma and Grandpa?" he turned to head toward the kitchen as he heard a car pull up. "We'd better hurry Aunt Sue is here to help your mom."

Jake screwed his face up for a second and then headed towards the house whistling for his dog as he went.

Scrat ran around their legs as they entered the family kitchen.

"Mr Callen...Good morning!" the catering manager smiled as they entered.

"Hey Marie, is it ok if we just borrow the coffee for a second." he leaned towards the pot as she waved him away. "Mr. Callen, this is your wedding day too. You know I promised you a full service, There is a full breakfast set up in the dining room on trays ready to be taken up. Your parents have a tray ready to go and I assume your soon to be sister in law will be taking up the bride's tray."

"So I can't make Grandma's breakfast?" Jake asked his face falling a bit.

"It won't be ready if you don't Jake. I need your help with this important bit and then you and your father can take it up." Marie smiled.

Callen nodded in thanks as she handed Jake napkins and a small spray of flowers to go on the tray.

As they turned to walk up Marie called them, "Jake...you forgot your grandpa's paper, you know he likes that in the morning."

Jake nodded and ran to carry it up the stairs. He had always liked Marie even when he was small and she had been helping out at the diner on weekends before she had branched out into the catering business on her own. She had jumped at the chance to be a part of this wedding and was going to do everything in her power to make it perfect.

As they turned to the stairs a call came from the front door.

"Hellllooooo!" The high pitched voice came, "Where's my little man?"

"Daddy save me!" Jake whispered.

"Sue, Just in time...I have Joelle's breakfast ready!" Marie called out as she walked past and high fived Jake who grinning ran after his father.

Sue distracted by the caterer turned to help out. "Of course anything I can do."

* * *

As they got to the top of the stairs and turned the corner, Jake leaned against the wall fanning himself with the paper, "Phew that was close!" he exclaimed dramatically. "Scrat...you may have to eat her later." he said full of seriousness. Callen suppressed the urge to laugh.

"He can't eat your Aunt Susan...she'll give him stomach ache."

Jake screwed up his face as he thought it over, "Yep...ok Scrat. You can't eat the auntie."

"Come on Jake you wanna knock the door for me?" he asked.

Jake made sure the paper was smooth again and knocked the door.

"Come in!" Bert's voice came from inside.

Callen nodded as Jake opened the door. "Grandpa, Grandma...we got you breakfast, you gotta wake up, mom and dad are getting married today."

Wanda was already sat up in bed as they walked in with the tray.

"Morning mom." he said as he leant over to kiss her cheek.

She patted the bed for him to sit near her. "Good morning Greg. How are you and the boys?"

Callen smiled, "Brilliant. John is still asleep, I'm gonna go check on him in a minute, I want to get him dressed and fed first. He can hopefully sleep then until the wedding."

Wanda smiled, "He's a good boy, a very placid baby."

"Takes after his mother."

"Did you go and see Joelle this morning?"

Callen shook his head, "No, I slept on the floor in John's nursery. I figured we could keep the bride from seeing the groom before the wedding and I could ensure that John didn't wake Joelle up last night."

Wanda took the coffee that Callen handed to her and looked at the breakfast. "So, you both made this?" she asked.

"Marie made it but she let me help" Jake smiled as he passed the flowers to her.

"They are beautiful thank you Jake." Wanda said.

Callen stood, "Well, I better get the boys washed and dressed, do you two need anything before I go?"

"No, I called Hetty yesterday, she's should be here in a few hours. We are going to look over any last minute preparations."

"You sure you are ok with letting her help with this?" Callen asked.

"Greg, she is more your mother than I am. I know you both had your differences and she is making amends and working hard to be a part of your life, but remember what you told me. She saved you, even before everything went bad between the two of you she tried her hardest and was always in her own way looking out for you. Today is not a day for animosity you are marrying the woman you love, the mother of your children. Let it go today and enjoy my son."

"Thanks Ma." he leaned over and placed a kiss on her head. "Come on Jake." Callen said to his eldest son.

"I gotta put on my new suit Grandma, Mommy says I look handsome like Daddy in it, and she's wearing a special dress today. Are you wearing one too?" Jake asked.

"Not as special as your mother's dress, but I am wearing a nice new dress."

"I think you will still look as beautiful as mommy." Jake smiled as Callen ushered him out of the room, closing the door on Wanda and Bert's chuckles.

* * *

An hour later freshly dressed, both boys were taken downstairs by Callen who was still in his jeans.

"Well...look at you, still not dressed." A familiar voice said.

"Sam!" Callen grinned turning around with John inhis arms.

"And who's this?" He asked with a smile.

"This is my youngest son, John."

"Named after Duke?" Sam asked.

Callen nodded, "Yeah, he was special to me, him and Gibbs, but I wasn't about to call him Jethro, I would never have heard the end of it." he admitted.

Michelle cooed at the baby and took him from Callen, "Wanda asked me to bring him over and said for you to head to the shower."

"Come on G, gotta get your tie done," Sam grinned.

"You still got the ring?" Callen asked worried.

Sam turned him around and back towards the stairs as Callen looked back.

" _ **JAKE, don't even think about touching that cake!"**_

He called and smiled as he heard his son groan,"Awwww. Dad!" and stamped towards the back yard.

* * *

Before he knew it he and Sam were standing at the back end of the garden with the celebrant and they were waiting for Joelle to come down the stairs.

John was sleeping happily in a decorated bassinet near Hetty and Wanda and Bert and Jethro were looking proudly at Callen as he fidgeted with his tie.

"G...Stop it." Sam hissed as the small string quartet started to play the wedding march.

"I'm gonna puke." G hissed at his ex-partner as a knot of nervousness appeared in his gut.

"You'll be fine now shhh." Sam nudged him as the large patio doors opened and Joelle stepped out of the house.

Everyone melted into the background as he looked at her. She was perfect and soon she would be his. He smiled as Jake walked in front of her carrying the pillow with both his and her rings tied to it, Scrat walking to heel beside his boy with a blue bow around his neck.

The next hour seemed to just float by, he stood staring at her until Sam nudged him to say I do and before he knew it the celebrant said.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

"Finally." He sighed and pulled her to him as she giggled and kissed him.

"Ewww!" Jake placed on hand other his eyes and the other over his brother's eyes. "Mom! Dad! there's people here!" he exclaimed as those at the front laughed.

The newly married coupled turned picked up both boys, Joelle holding John and Callen holding Jake and as a family they walked back down the aisle.

Callen's old team stood together as the wedding photo's were taken. Hetty smiled as she stood next to Sam, "You know Mr. Hanna, I think both Mr. Callen and Mr. Deeks have finally found their way home. It was not with us after all, but both are happy."

Sam nodded with a wistful smile thinking of the couple and their newborn baby back in Los Angeles, "You know Hetty, I think you're right."

 


End file.
